Moore v. True Value Company

The parties executed a Consent Judgment in Moore v. True Value Company on June 21, 2013, which resolved citizen enforcer John Moore’s allegations that the defendant True Value Company (“True Value”) sold tools with vinyl/PVC grips 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, True Value agreed not to sell any tools with vinyl/PVC grips in California after January 1, 2014, unless the tools contain no more than 1,000 parts per million of DEHP in any accessible component when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies or have Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Additionally, True Value agreed to provide the reformulation standards to its vendors and instruct them to provide tools that comply with the standards expeditiously.  Should True Value eliminate the need for Proposition 65 warnings for the specific tool set identified in the Consent Judgment by September 1, 2013, and/or eliminate the need for all Proposition 65 warnings for hand tools by May 1, 2014, Moore agreed to credit portions of the civil fine that would otherwise be applied.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $57,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Moore and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.