Cases & Deals

Perfect Equipment resolves California Proposition 65 lawsuit involving wheel balancing weights

Client(s) Perfect Equipment, Inc.

On behalf of Perfect Equipment, Inc., the largest U.S. manufacturer of wheel balancing weights, Jones Day defended a California Proposition 65 lawsuit filed by an environmental public interest group claiming that lead wheel weights can fall off tires, become abraded over time, and thus potentially discharge lead to drinking water supplies, in alleged violation of Proposition 65's discharge prohibition. Perfect Equipment and all the other manufacturer defendants denied these claims. Nevertheless, under terms of a court-approved consent judgment, Perfect Equipment and the other defendants agreed to phase out the use of lead in their wheel weights, and then supported legislation in California (SB 757) that now bans lead wheel weights.

Center for Environmental Health v. Perfect Equipment, Inc., et al., Case No. RG08388923 (California Superior Court, Alameda County)