Wozniak v. 99 Cents Only Stores LLC

Citizen enforcer Paul Wozniak and settling party 99 Cents Only Stores LLC (“99 Cents”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement on June 9, 2015.  Wozniak had alleged that 99 Cents sold glass bottles 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, 99 Cents agreed not to sell any glass bottles with exterior designs in California after June 9, 2015, unless the bottles contain less than certain amounts of lead pursuant to section 2.1 of the agreement when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $20,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Wozniak and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.