Vinocur v. Reimers Furniture Mfg., Inc.

 Whistleblower Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant Reimers Furniture Mfg., Inc. (“Reimers”) were resolved on May 22, 2014, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Reimers 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, Reimers agreed not to sell any upholstered 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, Reimers agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by June 1, 2014, and instruct them to provide chairs that comply expeditiously.  Chairs currently existing in Reimers’ inventory must be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Reimers provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after May 20, 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 Reimers should provide written certification that all chairs sold in California after July 15, 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 $65,600, 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.