Vinocur v. Peerless Industrial Group, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against settling party Peerless Industrial Group, Inc. (“Peerless”) were resolved on August 1, 2013, when the parties entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Peerless sold wire ropes 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, Peerless agreed not to sell any wire ropes in California after July 1, 2013, unless the ropes contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $21,000, 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.