Vinocur v. Spoontiques, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against settling party Spoontiques, Inc. (“Spoontiques”) were resolved on July 30, 2013, when the parties entered into an out-of-court Settlement Agreement.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Spoontiques sold beer 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 settlement, Spoontiques agreed not to sell any beer mugs in California after August 8, 2013, unless the beer mugs contain no more than 100 parts per million of lead in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should Spoontiques provide written certification that all beer mugs sold in California after November 15, 2013 qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $35,700, 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.