DA: Home Depot to Pay $8M for Environmental Violations

Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach announced Thursday that a Los Angeles County judge has ordered Home Depot to pay $8 million in penalties and costs for environmental violations committed by the corporation throughout Southern California.

The Delaware-based corporation was accused of selling paint, sealers, primers and other coatings that emit ground-level ozone, a toxic gas. The suit was filed by the DA’s offices in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, the city attorney in Los Angeles and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

From 2009 through 2012, Home Depot reportedly sold thousands of gallons of architectural coatings and paints in violation of SCAQMD regulations. The violations reportedly exposed customers and their families to levels of smog-forming volatile organic compounds that were higher than allowed by law, according to the District Attorney's office.

“The DA’s Office takes these types of violations very seriously and is always concerned with the health and well-being of the residents of this county,” Zellerbach stated. “Settlements like this in cases brought by this office will continue to ensure that manufacturers and corporations abide by the rules and regulations imposed which protect us all.”

Home Depot has agreed to pay $1.48 million each to the three DA’s offices and one city attorney’s office which brought the civil suit. The corporation will also pay $100,000 in investigative
costs to each of those plaintiffs. Home Depot also agreed to pay an additional $1.98 million to SCAQMD.

There are 15 Home Depot stores in Riverside County—including a Temecula location on Temecula Parkway—within SCAQMD jurisdiction. At least two of those stores, located in Lake Elsinore and Moreno Valley, were involved in the violations.