Huizenga and Others Sued over Choice Environmental Deal

Date: June 14, 2013

Source: Shutts & Bowen LLP

The former owners of Choice Environmental Services are suing H. Wayne Huizenga and two other officers of Swisher Hygiene Inc. (Charlotte, NC) which bought the company in March 2011 for $90 million, including about $41 million of debt. The sellers, Glen Miller and Neal Rodrigue, were paid $50 million in Swisher stock and $5.7 million in cash for their company. They now allege in a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that then chairman Huizenga, CEO Steven Berrard, and SVP and CFO Michael Kipp failed to "timely deliver" shares of Swisher stock suitable for public resale. In November 2012 Swisher sold Choice Environmental to Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (Toronto. ON) for $123 million "of which Miller and Rodrigue received no portion of those unjust rewards," according to a press release issued by their attorneys Shutts & Bowen LLP. They claim that the lawsuit "lays out a detailed story of corporate mismanagement, intrigue foundedin alleged deception, misrepresentations, as well as intentional and negligent acts and omissions - committed by Swisher while Huizenga and Berrard were running the company."

Huizenga played a key role in building Waste Management, AutoNation, Blockbuster and later Republic Services.

See also: "Shareholders File Class-Action Lawsuit against Swisher Hygiene," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20121024F.htm), October 19, 2012.

See also: "Swisher Hygiene Could Get Delisted, Nasdaq Warns," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20120926G.htm), September 26, 2012.

See also: "Swisher Hygiene CEO Steps Down amid Accounting Problems," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20120821H.htm), August 20, 2012.

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