Vinocur v. Tomy International, Inc.

Citizen enforcer Laurence Vinocur’s allegations against defendant Tomy International, Inc. (“Tomy”) were resolved on November 4, 2013, when the parties executed a Consent Judgment.  In this matter, Vinocur alleged that Tomy sold padded upholstered sleepers with foam padding containing the flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (“TDCPP”) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (“TCEP”) in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the settlement, Tomy agreed not to sell any sleepers in California after March 31, 2014, unless the sleepers contain no more than 25 parts per million of TDCPP and TCEP when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies. Additionally, Tomy agreed to provide its vendors with the reformulation standards by November 9, 2013, and instruct them to provide sleepers that comply expeditiously.  Sleepers currently existing in Tomy’s inventory may be sold with Proposition 65 warnings provided.  Should Tomy provide written certification that all sleepers sold in California after November 1, 2013 qualify as reformulated, Vinocur agreed to waive a portion of the civil fine.  Additionally, Vinocur provided a credit for extending the breadth of reformulation, among other credits available, if Tomy should provide written certification that all sleepers sold in California after March 15, 2014, contain no detectable amounts of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (“TDBPP”) in addition to satisfying the TDCPP and TCEP requirement.

The Consent Judgment requires settlement payments of $129,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Vinocur and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.