Waste management company Stericycle finally entered into a settlement agreement for a qui tam lawsuit that has been going on since 2008. The lawsuit alleged that the company's management had been systematically overcharging government entities for its services.
The lawsuit has now been settled by all parties involved, and the settlement terms require Stericycle to pay $26,750,000 in aggregate to the Federal Government and all affected states in exchange for resolving all claims.
In 2008, a qui tam complaint was filed against Stericycle by a former employee on behalf of the Federal Government, and later fourteen states and the District of Columbia. A qui tam action is a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a private citizen against an entity believed to have violated a contract with the government. The lawsuit claimed that Stericycle methodically implemented automated price increases without giving notice of the same to government entities.