DiPirro v. Panasonic Company, et al.

The Alameda County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in DiPirro v. Panasonic Company on October 2, 2001. This enforcement action resolved the allegations of citizen enforcer Michael DiPirro that Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, formerly doing business as Panasonic Company (hereinafter referred to as "Matsushita") sold power tools whose customary use and application expose persons to the heavy metal lead and the toxins crystalline silica, arsenic and chromium in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Matsushita agreed to immediately initiate commercially reasonable efforts to revise the product or packaging warnings for the products sold in California to comply with Section 1 of the Agreement. Additionally, Matsushita agreed that it will provide revised warnings on all products sold in California within four months of the date the Agreement is approved by the Court.

The Consent Judgment 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 whistleblower DiPirro and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.