As You Sow v. Hurst Graphics, Inc., et al.

Posted: 01/01/1996  browse the case archive

The Superior Court of California in and for the county of San Francisco entered a Consent Judgment in 1995 in As You Sow v. Hurst Graphics, Inc., et al., which resolved private enforcer As You Sow's allegations that the defendant Hurst Graphics sold certain paints and solvent products containing toluene, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, and/or sodium dichromate in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Hurst Graphics agreed as of January 1, 1996, that it shall not ship (or cause to be shipped) for sale or use in the State of California any covered products unless such products were accompanied by the appropriate Proposition 65 health hazard warning in compliance with Section 1 of the Agreement. Hurst Graphics also agreed to notify its distributors in writing of their agreement to ensure the covered products were in compliance with Proposition 65 and required the distributors to immediately affix the appropriate warning labels to the products that have already entered the stream of commerce.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $12,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which were paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower AYS and their counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest. Additionally, the Consent Judgment required restitution payments in the amount of $3,000, divided equally therein between Citizens for a Better Environment and to the As You Sow Proposition 65 Investigation Fund as compensation to whistleblower As You Sow for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.

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