Vinocur v. Norstar Office Products, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur's allegations against defendant Norstar Office Products, Inc. (“Norstar”) were resolved on October 11, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Norstar sold padded upholstered furniture with foam padding containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) and furniture with vinyl/PVC upholstery 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, Norstar agreed not to sell any furniture in California after March 31, 2014, unless the furniture contains no detectable amounts of TDCPP and TCEP and no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP, DBP, and BBP  when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Norstar agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by October 31, 2013, and instruct them to provide furniture that complies expeditiously.  Furniture currently existing in Norstar’s inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Norstar provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after November 1, 2013 qualifies 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 Norstar should provide written certification that all furniture sold in California after March 15, 2014, contains 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 $104,000, 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.