Held v. CWC Inventories, Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. CWC Inventories, Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on June 19, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that CWC Inventories, Inc. (“CWC”) sold walking sticks with vinyl/PVC grips containing the phthalate chemical di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (“DEHP”) and/or the heavy metal lead in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.  

As part of the agreement, CWC agreed not to sell any walking sticks with vinyl/PVC grips in California after the San Francisco County Superior Court approves the Judgment, unless the grips contain no more than 1,000 parts per million (“ppm”) of DEHP and/or no more than 90 ppm of lead when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or bear Proposition 65 warnings.  CWC has also agreed to provide the above reformulation standards to their vendors and instruct them to comply expeditiously.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $33,800, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.