60-Day Notice

Anthony Held, John Moore, and Laurence Vinocur--clients of The Chanler Group--served eleven 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violation last week.  The notices were served to companies offering products such as furniture, hand tools, and gloves for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required health hazard warning.  TCG's citizen enforcers allege that the companies' products contain the phthalate DEHP, the flame retardant chemical TDCPP, and the heavy metal lead (Pb).  DEHP and lead are known to cause birth defects and reproductive harm, while TDCPP is known to cause cancer.  Some of the noticed companies include Mechanical Servants, Raley's, and Spectrum Brands.

See below for a partial list of notices.

Read the most recent notices issued by clients of The Chanler Group

The Chanler Group has received Fiskars Brands, Inc.’s certification, required by the settlement agreement with TCG client John Moore, that 75% of Fiskars’ tools with grips offered for sale in California have been reformulated to contain less than 0.1% of DEHP.  As a result, the final civil penalty of $60,000, which Fiskars agreed to in the settlement, will be waived.  The penalty waiver provision of the settlement provided an incentive for Fiskars to promptly reformulate their products to be free of DEHP.  DEHP is a toxic phthalate chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm.

Fiskars Brands is a publically traded, multinational holding corporation that manufactures common consumer products such as scissors, garden tools, crafting tools, and knives, whose brands include Gerber, Craftsman, and Buster, as well as Fiskars.  John Moore found several Fiskars Brands products to contain DEHP, including garden tools and crafting tools, and served Fiskars Brands with a 60-Day Notice of Violation on October 28, 2011.  Fiskars Brands entered into a settlement agreement on February 20, 2013, for a total of $155,000 in penalties and attorneys’ fees, $60,000 of which would be waived if a certification of reformulation were provided by July 15, 2013.

The Chanler Group frequently includes such “reformulation incentives” in its settlements as part of the firm’s work in effectuating change for a cleaner environment and safer consumer products.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.

Yesterday, the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee (“EQ Committee”) revised AB 227, the proposed amendment to Proposition 65 authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto. 

While preserving the 14-day cure period for exposures to alcoholic beverages consumed on site, certain foods and beverages prepared on site, tobacco smoke, and engine exhaust in parking lots, the EQ Committee amended the bill in a few significant ways.  If enacted, the newly amended version of AB 227 would require citizen enforcers to provide an alleged violator with:

• a “clear and reasonable description” of the 14-day cure provisions
• information that the alleged violator may not be liable under Proposition 65 if it has fewer than 10 employees
• a form “Notice of Compliance,” to be approved by the Judicial Council, for mandatory use by an alleged violator seeking to invoke the 14-day cure provision.  The new form is to include the statement, “I hereby swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have received a notice of violation of Section 25249.6 and have taken the following steps to comply with Section 25249.7.” 

The EQ Committee’s amendment provides that California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment may prescribe specific language for citizen enforcers to include in their 60-Day Notice of Violation  regarding the 14-day cure provision.  The amendment would also limit alleged violators to a one time only use of the 14-day cure provision for “a violation arising from the same exposure in the same facility or on the same premises.” 

Finally, the amendment also eliminates the language that, in the event of a dispute between citizen enforcers and alleged violators regarding whether the alleged violator has complied with the 14-day cure provision, would have placed the burden of proving the applicability of the provision on the alleged violator.

AB 227 is now before the California Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.

Russell Brimer, Peter Englander, Whitney Leeman and Laurence Vinocur--clients of The Chanler Group--served eleven 60-Day Notices of Proposition 65 Violation today.  The notices were served to companies offering products such as furniture, paint mixer, hand tools, and kitchen tools for sale in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without the required health hazard warning.  TCG's citizen enforcers allege that the companies' products contain the phthalate DEHP, the flame retardant chemicals TDCPP and TCEP, and the heavy metal lead (Pb).  DEHP and lead are known to cause birth defects and reproductive harm, while TDCPP and TCEP are known to cause cancer.  Some of the noticed companies include Energizer Holdings, Fastenal, and Valu Mart.

See below for a partial list of notices.

Read the most recent notices issued by clients of The Chanler Group