Lawsuit Alleges Huizenga, Others Misrepresented Swisher Stock in Sale

The sellers of waste management firm Choice Environmental Services Inc. are suing H. Wayne Huizenga and two other officers of the firm that bought it, Swisher Hygiene Inc.

Glen Miller and partner Neal Rodrigue are alleging the Swisher officers along with the company didn’t deliver the Swisher shares that were part of the transaction amount in a timely manner and they committed other fraudulent and deceptive acts that lessened the value of the deal for the plaintiffs, according to allegations in a news release from Shutts & Bowen LLP, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based law firm representing Miller and Rodrigue.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the Charlotte, N.C.-based cleaning services firm Swisher and its officers at the time – Huizenga, chairman; Steven Berrard, CEO; and Michael Kipp, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Miller and Rodrigue agreed to sell the Fort Lauderdale-based Choice Environmental in 2011 for $90 million, which included Swisher common stock valued at nearly $50 million. The suit alleges that the shares were not delivered in a timely manner suitable for public resale. It says Swisher did not account for its acquisitions as required, which resulted in an inflated market value of the shares at the time Miller and Rodrique agreed to the sale.

Further, in late 2012 Swisher then sold Choice Environmental to Vaughan, Ontario-based Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. for $123 million, of which Miller and Rodrigue received no portion.