Wozniak v. Rhode Island Textile Company

On September 18, 2017, citizen enforcer Paul Wozniak and settling party Rhode Island Textile Company (“RI Textile”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Wozniak had alleged that RI Textile sold vinyl/PVC bags containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, RI Textile agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC bags in California after October 18, 2017, unless the bags contain less than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.

The Settlement Agreement requires settlement payments of $17,000, 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.