The lunchboxes proved embarrassing to the California Department of Public Health, which purchased the products to give away at fairs promoting healthful living, including eating fresh fruit and vegetables.
In September, public health authorities recalled 300,000 green and blue canvas lunchboxes the department had distributed throughout the state since 2004. A spot check by a Sacramento County lab found lead levels in some boxes "significantly above" the state's legal limit of 600 parts per million.
At the same time, the Center for Environmental Health was pursuing a lawsuit against T-A Creations and other lunchbox sellers, aimed at reaching agreements to remove lead from their products.
"We went to court repeatedly and asked the court to rule on the case, and the court continued to put us off to give T-A Creations a chance to appear. They never did," center spokesman Margulis said. T-A Creations, he said, was the only one of about 20 lunchbox sellers that did not reach a settlement.
Kramer's judgment against T-A Creations was particularly severe, legal experts said.
"This was a serious violation," said Harrison Pollak, a state deputy attorney general who handles environmental enforcement cases.
"Ten million dollars is huge," said Lana Beckett, publisher of Proposition 65 Clearinghouse, a legal newsletter. She noted that settlements in 156 cases in 2007 totaled only $13.6 million.
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marc.lifsher@latimes.com
