Wozniak v. Franklin Financial Management, LLC, et al.

The parties involved in the case Wozniak v. Franklin Financial Management, LLC, et al. executed a Consent Judgment on May 18, 2016.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Paul Wozniak alleged that Franklin Financial Management, LLC (“Franklin”) and East Bay Restaurant Supply, Inc. (“East Bay”) (collectively, “Parties”) sold nylon cooking utensils containing the chemical 4,4’-methylenedianiline (“4,4’-MDA”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, Parties agreed not to sell any nylon cooking utensils in California after the Alameda County Superior Court enters the Judgment, unless the utensils, when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies, contain no more than 200 parts per million of 4,4’-MDA by weight or produce a leach result of 10 ug/L or less of 4,4’-MDA. Non-reformulated products shall be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $35,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Wozniak and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.