Held v. QFX, Inc.

On February 9, 2018, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. and settling party QFX, Inc. (“QFX”) entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement. Held had alleged that QFX sold vinyl/PVC headphone cords 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, QFX agreed not to sell any vinyl/PVC headphone cords in California after February 15, 2018, unless the cords 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 $19,500, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to citizen enforcer Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.