Brimer v. Officemate International Corporation

On March 29, 2010, the San Francisco County Superior Court entered a Consent Judgment in Brimer v. ACCO Brands Corporation, et al., which resolved citizen enforcer Russell Brimer's allegations that the defendant, Officemate International Corporation ("Officemate"), sold vinyl coated paper fasteners containing the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Officemate agreed not to sell any vinyl coated paper fasteners in California after October 16, 2009, unless the fasteners contain less than 300 parts per million of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Should Officemate complete the potential penalty reductions outlined in Section 4.2 of the Consent Judgment, Brimer agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $238,700, to be divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Brimer and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.