Vinocur v. Intel Corporation

On January 14, 2015, the parties executed an out-of-court Settlement Agreement, which resolved the allegations that whistleblower Laurence Vinocur made against settling party Intel Corporation (“Intel”).  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Intel sold earphone buds with cords containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Intel agreed not to sell any earphone buds with cords in California after January 15, 2015, unless the cords contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.  Should Intel provide written certification by July 15, 2015, that it has extended the breadth of reformulation to include butyl benzyl phthalate (“BPP”), di-n-butyl phthalate (“DBP”), di-isodecyl phthalate (“DIDP”), diisononyl phthalate (“DINP”) and di-n-hexyl phthalate (“DnHP”), Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied. 

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $39,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Vinocur and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.