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MedQuist Announces Dismissal of South Broward Litigation and Appointment of New Interim President & CEO

Thursday, June 12, 2008 General News
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MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., June 11 MedQuist Inc.(Pink Sheets: MEDQ.PK). On June 9, 2008, the U.S. District Court District forthe District of New Jersey dismissed the South Broward customer class actionwithout prejudice to the right, upon motion and good cause shown, within 60days, to reopen the action if the settlement is not consummated. The companyis in the process of informing the court that the settlement has, in fact,been consummated through payment of the settlement amount and filing of astipulation of dismissal with prejudice. As previously announced the SouthBroward action was filed against the company and certain present and formerofficers and the complaint alleged that the company overcharged certainnon-federal governmental hospitals and medical centers for transcriptionservices. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the company has paid$7,537,001.83 to resolve all claims by the individual named plaintiffs andcertain other putative class members represented by plaintiffs' counsel butnot named in the action. The settling parties have released the company andall individual defendants from any and all claims and dismissed the action inits entirety with prejudice. Neither the company, nor any of the individualdefendants, has admitted or will admit to liability or any wrongdoing inconnection with the settlement.
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This dismissal of the South Broward lawsuit follows the other recentlydisclosed tentative settlement reached on or about April 21, 2008 regardingall individual and class claims related to the consolidated medicaltranscriptionists' putative class action lawsuit in exchange for payment byMedQuist of $1.5 million plus certain injunctive relief. The consummation ofthese two settlements will result in the final resolution of all class actionlitigation matters related to (i) the allegations raised by a company employeein November 2003 that the company had engaged in improper billing practices,(ii) the company's public disclosure of those allegations and (iii) thecompany's July 2004 public disclosure of certain findings from the independentreview (the "Billing Review") of the allegations that was undertaken by thecompany's board of directors. The previously disclosed Securities and ExchangeCommission ("SEC") and Department of Justice ("DOJ") investigations remainongoing and the company continues to fully cooperate with both investigations.
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The company and its interim president and chief executive officer, HowardS. Hoffmann of Nightingale Associates, LLC, announced that Mr. Hoffmann'sservice as the company's interim president and chief executive officer, andthe related engagement of Nightingale, terminated consensually on June 10,2008. Accordingly, the company's board of directors has appointed Mark Ivie,the company's chief technology officer, to serve as the interim chiefexecutive officer and president, effective as of June 11, 2008. Mr. Ivie willalso continue to serve as the chief technology officer.

"Howard Hoffmann was appointed as MedQuist's interim CEO, and subsequentlyPresident, with a clear mission to improve the company's business practices,including its billing practices, and to bring the company current in its SECfilings," stated Gregory M. Sebasky, chairman of the board of directors. "Hehas been successful on these fronts, including effectively resolving allissues related to the material customer, employee and shareholder litigationmatters arising from the Billing Review, as well as leading the companythrough the strategic evaluation process and implementing a variety ofoperational turnaround initiatives that have resulted in improved margins andcustomer satisfaction. In addition, he has led the company in fullycooperating with the investigations by the SEC and DOJ relating to the BillingReview, and we are optimistic that both matters are nearing conclusion. Wethank Howard for his contributions and achievements in all of thes
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