Since the introduction of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 we have worked countless hours to get known toxins out of the air, water, food, and products that Californians use every day.
After successful identification of thousands of toxic products that posed material dangers to public health, we worked with businesses to free the marketplace of products that were bad for commerce and worse for consumers. We made sure that poisonous products were replaced with safe alternatives or were prominently labeled. This insured that consumers who may have purchased products that contained cancer causing chemicals or other harmful agents, would know what they were getting.
At a minimum, we make sure to protect consumers’ “right to know” when a product contains chemicals that put themselves or their families’ at risk of serious disease. More often, we work to get companies to reformulate their products to ensure the safety of Californian families and improvement of the consumer marketplace for all stakeholders.
The history of our Firm is the story of an uphill march ignited by our hundreds of successes in the consumer protection arena. Time and again, our team has gone the extra mile to pursue the ideal that the shelves which our families reach for everyday should be populated with SAFE food, toys, tools, and basic comforts. Not merely with dangerous products bearing labels describing them as such. We pursue the ideal that Californians should live without fear of being poisoned when consuming the fruits of their labor.
Our efforts have had and continue to have lasting effects on the lives of millions of Californians. Here are some of the achievements we have made as leaders of consumer rights protection in California and beyond:
Freedom of Speech (Anti-SLAPP): Yeroushalmi & Yeroushalmi (then known as Yeroushalmi & Associates) won a Supreme Court of California victory. The decision in Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause, Inc. served a significant public benefit by bolstering the First Amendment right of citizens to petition for the redress of grievances. Shrimp: When we learned that imports of shrimp from Asia may contain chloramphemical, an antibiotic that is known to be hazardous for human consumption, we brought allegations against this industry. Since the U.S. Customs Service does not possess the resources to monitor this problem, we persuaded these importers to self-monitor their shrimp shipments, to ensure that no shrimp imported into the U.S. contains this dangerous chemical. Y&Y is proud to do what it can to make America’s shrimp healthier!
Protecting Groundwater: In one of the published cases before the Court of Appeal, our client alleged that through the use of underground storage tanks at service stations, certain oil companies allowed harmful components of gasoline (i.e. benzene, toluene, and lead) to leech in the soil for years en route to subterranean water supplies used for human consumption. This case generated widespread interest, garnering support from both the Office of the Attorney General and the Environmental Law Foundation.
