Vinocur v. Ross Acquisition Co.

The parties involved in the case Vinocur v. Ross Acquisition Co. executed a Consent Judgment on May 15, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur alleged that Ross Acquisition Co. (“Ross”) sold mugs with exterior designs containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Ross agreed not to sell any mugs with exterior designs in California after the Marin County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the mugs meet a number of lead reformulation standards when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies, as outlined in section 2.2 of the Judgment.  Ross has also agreed to provide the above reformulation standards to their vendors and instruct them to comply expeditiously.  Should Ross provide written certification that all mugs with exterior decorations sold in California qualify as reformulated by July 15, 2015, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $145,000, 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.