Vinocur v. Midland Radio Corporation

On July 22, citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur and settling party Midland Radio Corporation (“Midland”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement.  Vinocur had alleged that Midland sold headset 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, Midland agreed not to sell any headset cords in California after December 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 Midland provide Vinocur with written certification by October 1, 2015 that all headset cords sold in California qualify as reformulated products under the agreement, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil penalty that would otherwise be applied.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $33,000, 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.