In Re: Stericycle, Inc., Steri-Safe Contract Litigation

A Court authorized the Notice because you may have a right to know about the Settlement and about all of your options and associated deadlines. The name of the lawsuit is In re: Stericycle, Inc., Steri-Safe Contract Litigation, Case No. 13-C-5795, MDL No. 2455. The defendant is Stericycle, Inc. (“Stericycle”). This website explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights. You are NOT being sued. Please do not contact Stericycle as the Court has ordered that all questions be directed to the Class Action Settlement Administrator.

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The class action lawsuit claims that Stericycle engaged in a practice of imposing Automated Price Increases in violation of the contracts between Stericycle and certain of its Small Quantity (SQ) medical waste customers and engaged in unfair and deceptive acts or practices by misrepresenting or concealing material facts from its customers regarding its pricing practices. As a result, the lawsuit pursues claims for breach of contract and violations of various state consumer protection statutes, among other claims. You can read the Second Amended Consolidated Complaint on the Court Documents section of this website. Stericycle denies that it has violated any law, denies that it engaged in any wrongdoing, and denies that its pricing practices violated contracts between it and its customers. The parties agreed to resolve these matters before these issues were decided by the Court.

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The Court has certified a class of Stericycle customers that includes:

All persons and entities that, between March 8, 2003 through October 26, 2017, resided in the United States (except Washington and Alaska), were identified by Stericycle as a “Small Quantity” or “SQ” customer, and were charged and paid more than their Contractually Agreed Price for Stericycle’s medical waste disposal goods and services. Excluded from the class are governmental entities whose claims were asserted and resolved in United States ex rel. Perez v. Stericycle Inc. and any entities that have previously settled similar claims with Stericycle and released those claims.

Small Quantity medical waste customers generally include most small and medium-sized businesses, but generally do not include large hospitals or similarly large business entities that used Stericycle’s services. Eligible Class Members were not required to file a claim in order to receive the benefits of this Settlement, including a share of the Settlement Fund. Settlement payments were mailed to eligible Class Members on August 28, 2018. If you believe you were an eligible Class Member and did not receive your check please contact the Settlement Administrator at:

Stericycle Class Action c/o GCG PO Box 10515 Dublin, OH 43017-1515 Questions@StericycleClassAction.com

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In a class action, people called “class representatives” sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. All of these people together are the “Class” or “Class Members” if the Court approves this procedure. Then, that Court resolves the issues for all Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves from (opt out of) the Class.

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Both sides in the lawsuit agreed to a Settlement to avoid the cost and risk of further litigation, including a potential trial, and so that the Class Members can get benefits, in exchange for releasing Stericycle from liability. The Settlement does not mean that Stericycle broke any laws and/or did anything wrong, and the Court did not decide which side was right. The Settlement here has been approved by the Court, which authorized this website and the issuance of the Notice. The Class Representatives and the lawyers representing them (called “Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel”) believe that the Settlement is in the best interests of all Class Members.

The essential terms of the Settlement are summarized on this website and in the Notice. The Settlement Agreement along with all exhibits and addenda sets forth in greater detail the rights and obligations of the parties. If there is any conflict between this Notice and the Settlement Agreement, the Settlement Agreement governs.

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You are part of the Settlement if you are a person (including business entities) that, between March 8, 2003 through October 26, 2017, resided in the United States (except Washington and Alaska), were identified by Stericycle as “Small Quantity” or “SQ” customer, and were charged and paid more than the Contractually Agreed Price for Stericycle’s medical waste disposal goods and services. Excluded from the class are governmental entities whose claims were asserted and resolved in United States ex rel. Perez v. Stericycle Inc. and any entities that have previously settled similar claims with Stericycle and released those claims.

Eligible Class Members were not required to file a claim in order to receive the benefits of this Settlement, including a share of the Settlement Fund. Settlement payments were mailed to eligible Class Members on August 28, 2018. If you believe you were an eligible Class Member and did not receive your check please contact the Settlement Administrator at:

Stericycle Class Action c/o GCG PO Box 10515 Dublin, OH 43017-1515 Questions@StericycleClassAction.com

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If you are not sure whether you are included in the Class, you may call 1-877-919-5481. Please do not contact Stericycle, the Court, or Court staff, as the Court has ordered that all questions be directed to the Administrator.

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Stericycle has paid $295,000,000 into a Settlement Fund. The Settlement Fund will be used to pay members of the Class, all Settlement related costs, including the cost of notice, and to pay the expenses of litigation and class counsel attorneys’ fees, as may be approved by the Court.

If you are a Class Member, the amount you are eligible to receive depends on several factors, including, among other things, the amount by which your prices were increased due to the pricing practice alleged in this Action, and whether you received any discounts or price concessions from Stericycle during the class period. Some customers may be Class Members but, due to discounts, credits, or other price reductions given by Stericycle during the class period, may not be entitled to any payment.

The Settlement benefits are outlined generally below, but more information, including the Settlement Agreement, can be found in the Court Documents section of this website. The Court has granted Final Approval and entered Final Judgement. Settlement payments were mailed to Eligible Class Members on August 28, 2018.

a. Monetary payments to certain current and former Stericycle customers.

Stericycle paid $295 million into a fund for distribution to eligible Class Members (“Settlement Fund”) who, between March 8, 2003 and October 26, 2017, were charged and paid allegedly more than the Contractually Agreed Price for Stericycle’s medical waste disposal goods and services.

Plaintiffs’ expert witness in the lawsuit developed a method for identifying members of the Class and for calculating the damages each member of the Class allegedly suffered using Stericycle’s customer payment and billing records. This method takes into account Automated Price Increases over time, and also accounts for credits or decreases in prices. The same method was used to identify all Class Members and to determine what share, if any, each Class Member is entitled to from the Settlement Fund.

The Settlement Fund will be distributed to eligible Class Members according to a Plan of Allocation that is available in the Court Documents section of this website. The amount of your payment depends on the amount by which your prices allegedly increased, any credits or price reductions received, the period of time over which you paid the alleged increased prices, and similar factors. Please refer to the Plan of Allocation for more details.

Important: You do not need to do anything to receive your share, if any, of the Settlement Fund. Each Class Member’s share of the Settlement Fund was calculated in accordance with the Plan of Allocation. Eligible Class Members were not required to file a claim in order to receive the benefits of this Settlement, including a share of the Settlement Fund. Settlement payments were mailed to Eligible Class Members on August 28, 2018. If you believe you were an eligible Class Member and did not receive your check please contact the Settlement Administrator via email at Questions@StericycleClassAction.com or call 1-877-919-5481.

b. Pricing practice changes for current Stericycle customers.

Stericycle agreed to discontinue the pricing practice challenged in this Action for all Class Member contracts still subject to such increases within 60 days of October 26, 2017. Subject to certain limitations stated in the Settlement Agreement, Stericycle agrees not to impose an annual price increase of more than a 6% of the Contractually Agreed Price on these Class Members.

Any Class Members who previously renegotiated their contracts with Stericycle such that they are no longer subject to the pricing practice challenged in this Action on the date of Preliminary Approval and instead are being charged annual price increases that are set forth in their contracts will continue to be charged in accordance with those contracts.

c. Future limitations on price increases for current Stericycle customers.

For a period of three years after the Effective Date and subject to certain limitations stated in the Settlement Agreement, Stericycle agrees that all new contracts for SQ medical waste customers, including any contracts for Class Members that are entered into upon the expiration of the Class Member’s current contract, will comport with the following requirements:

• The contract price will include the cost of service as well as all fees and surcharges, except taxes and regulatory fees over which Stericycle has no control;
• The contracts will allow Stericycle to impose an annual price increase not to exceed 8%;
• The contracts will allow Stericycle to implement cost increases to cover non-controllable costs such as taxes, fuel and regulatory fees that can be documented and verified, but prior to imposing such costs on Class Members, Stericycle will verify the sufficiency of such a cost increase with Hon. Wayne Andersen (ret.), who will act as a monitor from the date of Preliminary Approval, through the Effective Date and for a period of time of at least three years from the Effective Date;
• On the first page of the agreement, the contracts will identify (i) the price of the contract and (ii) the annual maximum price increase percentage; and
• Stericycle’s compliance with the Settlement Agreement will be monitored by Hon. Wayne Andersen (ret.) for a period of three years.

d. Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Any disputes arising out of or relating to the issues raised in the Actions between the time of Preliminary Approval and the Final Effective Date that are not otherwise resolved by the Agreement will be resolved by binding arbitration, as described fully in Exhibit 5 to the Settlement Agreement.

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Class Members who do not exclude themselves from the Class released Stericycle from liability and will not be able to sue Stericycle about the issues in the lawsuit. The Settlement Agreement describes the released claims in necessary legal terminology, so read it carefully. For ease of reference, the full release section in Appendix A is attached to the Notice. The Settlement Agreement is available in the Court Documents section of this website. You can talk to one of the lawyers listed in Question 15 below for free or you can, of course, talk to your own lawyer at your own expense if you have questions about the released claims or what they mean.

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If you exclude yourself, you cannot get Settlement benefits. If you ask to be excluded, you cannot object to the Settlement. But, if you timely and properly request exclusion, the Settlement will not prevent you from suing, continuing to sue or remaining or becoming part of a different lawsuit against Stericycle in the future about the issues in the lawsuit. If you exclude yourself, you will not be bound by anything that happens in this lawsuit and you may not object to the Settlement.

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Unless you excluded yourself, you gave up the right to sue Stericycle for the claims resolved by this Settlement. You are permanently enjoined and barred from initiating or continuing any lawsuit or other proceeding against Stericycle about the issues in the lawsuit.

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The Deadline to request exclusion from the Settlement has passed. To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you needed to send a letter by mail saying that you wanted to be excluded from the Settlement in In re: Stericycle, Inc., Steri-Safe Contract Litigation, and mention the case number (Case No. 13-C-5795, MDL No. 2455). In the letter, you needed to include your name (or the name of your business that was a Stericycle customer), address and your signature. You could not ask to be excluded over the phone or on the Settlement Website. Your exclusion request needed to be postmarked no later than January 22, 2018 and mailed to:

Stericycle Class Action,
c/o GCG
PO Box 10515
Dublin, OH 43017-1515

Your exclusion request needed to be mailed to the Administrator by the date shown above in order to be considered by the Court.

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Yes. The Court has appointed lawyers to represent you and other Class Members. These lawyers are called “Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel”: Steve W. Berman, Garth D. Wojtanowicz, and Elizabeth A. Fegan at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

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Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel asked the Court for attorneys’ fees of $40 million, plus up to an additional $2.8 million in costs and expenses. These fees and expenses went to pay the Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel and other lawyers who worked on the litigation since it was consolidated for pretrial proceedings in August, 2013. The Court awarded $35,000,000.00 in fees and $2,716,506.16 in expenses. These payments were made out of the Settlement Fund.

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The deadline to object to the Settlement has passed. If you are a Class Member, and you didn’t exclude yourself from the Class, you could have objected to the Settlement if you didn’t like some part of it. To object, you needed to send a written objection saying that you object to the Settlement in In re: Stericycle, Inc., Steri-Safe Contract Litigation, Case No. 13-C-5795, MDL No. 2455, to Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel and Stericycle’s Counsel at the address below so that the objection was received by Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel and Stericycle’s Counsel no later than January 22, 2018. To have your objection considered by the Court, you also needed to file the objection with the Clerk of Court (identified below) so that it is received and filed no later than January 22, 2018. In your objection, you needed to provide the specific reason for your objection (including any legal support), any evidence or other information you wish to rely on, a statement of whether you intend to appear at the Fairness Hearing (discussed below), and information showing that you are a member of the Class, your name, address, telephone number, your signature.

Clerk of Court United States District Court Northern District of Illinois 219 South Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60604

Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel Steve W. Berman Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP 1918 Eighth Ave. Suite 3300 Seattle, WA 98101

Stericycle’s Counsel Mark S. Mester Latham & Watkins LLP 330 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 2800 Chicago, IL 60611

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Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you don’t want to be part of the Class. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object because the Settlement no longer affects you. Objecting is telling the Court that you don’t like something about the Settlement. You can object only if you stay in the Class.

If you are a Class Member and you do nothing, you will remain a Class Member and all of the Court’s orders will apply to you, you will be eligible for the Settlement benefits described above as long as you satisfy the conditions for receiving each benefit, and you will not be able to sue Stericycle over the issues covered by the lawsuit.

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The Court held a Fairness Hearing at 2:30 p.m. on March 8, 2018 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604 in Courtroom 2303. At this hearing, the Court considered whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. The Court considered all objections. The Court listened to people who met the requirements to speak at the hearing (See Question 18 below). The Court granted final approval the Settlement and awarded the lawyers representing Class Members as combined $37,716,506.16 in fees and expenses.

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The deadline for you or your attorney to ask the Court for permission to speak at the Fairness Hearing has passed. To do so, you needed to send a letter saying that it is your “Notice of Intent to Appear in In re: Stericycle, Inc., Steri-Safe Contract Litigation, Case No. 13-C-5795, MDL No. 2455” to Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel and Stericycle’s Counsel identified above in response to Question 15 so that they received it no later than January 22, 2018. You also needed to file the document with the Clerk of Court so that it was received and filed no later than January 22, 2018. You needed to include your name (or the name of your business that was a Stericycle customer), address, telephone number, and your signature. Anyone who has requested permission to speak must be present at the start of the Fairness Hearing at 2:30 p.m. on March 8, 2018. You cannot speak at the hearing if you excluded yourself from the Class.

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This website summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in a Settlement Agreement, including its exhibits and addenda. You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement and other Settlement documents, in the Court Documents section of this website. You can also call the toll-free number, 1-877-919-5481, or write the Administrator at Stericycle Class Action, c/o GCG, PO Box 10515, Dublin, OH 43017-1515. You can also look at the documents filed in the lawsuit at the Court at the address provided above in response to Question 15.

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The Court has granted Final Approval and entered Final Judgement. Please do not contact Stericycle, the Court, or Court staff, as the Court has ordered that all questions be directed to the Administrator.

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