Vinocur v. Lifeworks Technology Group LLC

On March 17, 2015, Laurence Vinocur and settling party Lifeworks Technology Group LLC (“Lifeworks”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Vinocur had alleged that Lifeworks sold vinyl/PVC toiletry bags 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, Lifeworks agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC toiletry bags in California after March 6, 2015, unless the bags contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies, or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $18,000, 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.