Vinocur v. MooreCo, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant MooreCo, Inc. (“MooreCo”) were resolved on March 24, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that MooreCo sold padded upholstered 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, MooreCo agreed not to sell any chairs in California after June 30, 2014, unless the chairs contain no detectable amount of TDCPP and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, MooreCo agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by March 24, 2014, and instruct them to provide chairs that comply expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in MooreCo’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should MooreCo provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after May 15, 2014 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 MooreCo should provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after June 1, 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 $96,000, 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.