DOJ Charges Four California Toy Importers With Product Safety Violations
The government on Feb. 24 filed suit against four importers of children’s products, alleging numerous violations of product safety standards. The Justice Department is seeking an order from the Central California U.S. District Court that prohibits the companies from importing any more violative product into the United States. According to the complaint, sampling by the Consumer Product Safety Commission has turned up violations of federal safety standards for lead, phthalates, and small parts in toys, as well as other CPSC product safety requirements.
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According to the complaint, Toys Distribution (TDI), S&J Merchandise, BLJ Apparel, and All Season Sales, all based in California, as well as their corporate officers Loan Tuyet Thai, Lan My Lam, Paul Phuong, Cuc Thai, and Luan Luu, imported the violative products. All four companies and their corporate officers were related, having “significant business and/or personal ties,” so DOJ decided to prosecute all of them in the same lawsuit.
The complaint says Toys Distribution imported toy cars with excessive lead content and small parts that are hazardous for children, toy musical instruments with small parts hazards, dolls containing high levels of lead and phthalates, and infant rattles that could cause choking. Since 2008, CPSC collected 66 samples of consumer products from TDI’s import shipments into the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and TDI’s Los Angeles warehouse, and found 61 of the samples to be in violation of CPSC requirements.
S&J Merchandise’s imported toy cars with high lead content and small parts hazards, a toy telephone with small parts, and various plastic dolls with impermissible phthalate levels, the complaint said. CPSC found violations in 17 of 18 samples collected from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and a warehouse in El Monte, Calif.
The violative products imported by BLJ Apparel included children’s products and toys with illegal levels of lead, toys intended for children under three years of age that contained small parts and infant rattles that may cause choking or suffocation, said DOJ. CPSC sampling at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and a warehouse in South El Monte, Calif., found all four samples it collected to be violative.
Finally, All Season Sales imported a children’s kitchen set and police set that both exceeded the lead content limit, alleged DOJ. All 12 samples collected from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach were found to be violative.
The complaint says imported products from all four companies lacked certifications that they met CPSC third-party testing requirements for children’s products. They also lacked tracking labels required by the agency, said the complaint.
S&J Merchandise, BLJ Apparel, and All Season Sales already agreed to settle the lawsuit, according to DOJ. So did individual defendants Tom Liu, manager of S&J and owner of All Season Sales, and Luan Luu, owner of BLJ Apparel. The lawsuit continues against the remaining defendants, said DOJ.