Vinocur v. Jesper Office LLC

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant Jesper Office LLC (“Jesper”) were resolved on February 12, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Jesper sold padded upholstered office chairs containing the flame retardant tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Jesper agreed not to sell any office chairs in California after March 31, 2014, unless the office chairs contain no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Jesper agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by February 28, 2014, and instruct them to provide office chairs that comply expeditiously.  Office chairs currently existing in Jesper’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Jesper provide written certification that all office chairs sold in California after February 28, 2013 qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Vinocur provided a credit for extending the breadth of reformulation, among other credits available, if Jesper should provide written certification that all office chairs sold in California after March 15, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TCEP and TDCPP requirements.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $58,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Vinocur and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.