Sears Holdings Corp. Settlement 2008
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$600,000 in Fines Paid by Sears Holdings Corp.
Between August 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007, Sears Holdings Corporation sold "Splash Windshield Washer -20°F", "Splash De-Icer -30°F", "Prestone De-Icer Windshield Washer Fluid -34°F", "Xtreme Blue Windshield Washer -20°F", and "Xtreme Blue Windshield Washer +20°F" windshield washer fluid products at Kmart and Sears Essentials retail locations throughout non-Type A areas of California. All five products exceeded the one percent VOC limit set under Consumer Products Regulation section 94509 part (a) for the "Automotive Windshield Washer Fluid, all other areas" product category. In addition, between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007, Sears Holdings Corporation sold Blitz and Midwest brand portable fuel containers of various sizes at Kmart and Sears retail locations throughout California, and to customers in California through their web sites. These containers did not comply with the performance standards for spill-proof systems in the California regulation. Some of the models of portable fuel containers had been subject to a previous settlement agreement, yet the products continued to be sold at many store locations due to data entry errors in the company's sales restrictions databases. Because this was the third NOV issued to the company for portable fuel container sales, and because of the magnitude of the excess emissions from the sale of the windshield washer fluids, the cases were pursued with the Office of Legal Affairs. On September 10, 2008, the cases were settled for $600,000; $310,000 was allocated to violations of the Portable Fuel Container regulations, and $290,000 to the violations of the Consumer Products Regulation.