If you decide to remain a Class Member and do not opt out of the Proposed Amended Settlement, you will receive its benefits as described in the Notice and it will be binding on you. You will also be bound by the “Release of Claims” included in the Proposed Amended Settlement Agreement, which provides as follows:
“[1] In addition to and not in lieu of the effect of any final judgment entered in accordance with the Amended Settlement Agreement, and in consideration of Delta Dental’s agreement to pay the Amended Settlement Amount and for other valuable consideration provided by the Amended Settlement Agreement, each Settlement Class Member and CDA hereby expressly and irrevocably waives, and fully, finally, and forever settles, discharges, and releases the Released Parties, from any and all manner of claims, demands, actions, suits, and causes of action, whether individual, class, derivative, representative, or otherwise in nature, for damages (whether compensatory, consequential, special, statutory or punitive), interest, costs, expenses, attorneys’ fees, fines, civil or other penalties, or other payment of money, or for injunctive, declaratory, or other equitable relief, whether directly, indirectly, derivatively, or otherwise, whether known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, in law or in equity, that are based on, arise from or relate directly to Delta Dental’s conduct, acts or omissions alleged in the Second Amended Complaint including without limitation the determination or application of Fee Reimbursement Limits, and/or Contracted Fees for Premier Dentists prior to the Effective Date of the Amended PDA, Delta Dental’s determination or application of INAP, Delta Dental’s amendments to the PDA announced on November 17, 2010, Delta Dental’s amendments to the PDA announced on August 1, 2013, and/or Delta Dental’s notice to dentists of those amendments, and/or the claim that the terms of the current or any prior version of the PDA, the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in the current or any prior version of the PDA, or any other law applicable to the current or prior versions of the PDA preclude the amendment proposed by Delta Dental to the Amended PDA, regardless of when such claims accrue or accrued, for the period through the Effective Date of the Amended PDA (the “Release Date”) as provided herein (the “Released Claims”). Settlement Class Members and CDA shall not, after the Release Date, seek to establish liability against the Released Parties based on, arising from or relating directly to the conduct, acts or omissions asserted in the Second Amended Complaint. Settlement Class Members, CDA and the Released Parties agree that the Amended Settlement Agreement may be pleaded as a bar to a lawsuit, arbitration demand or administrative claim, and an injunction may be obtained, preventing any action from being initiated or maintained in any lawsuit, arbitration or administrative proceeding sought to be prosecuted by or on behalf of Settlement Class Members or CDA with respect to the Released Claims.
[2] In addition to the provisions of Section [1] above, each Settlement Class Member and CDA expressly agrees that, upon the Release Date, he, she or it waives and forever releases with respect to the Released Claims any and all provisions, rights and benefits conferred by either (a) section 1542 of the California Civil Code, which reads:
or (b) any law of the United States or any state or territory of the United States, or principle of common law, which is similar, comparable or equivalent to section 1542 of the California Civil Code. Each Settlement Class Member and CDA acknowledges that he, she or it may hereafter discover facts other than or different from those which he, she or it knows or believes to be true with respect to the Released Claims, but each Settlement Class Member and CDA hereby expressly waives and fully, finally, and forever settles and releases, upon the Release Date, any known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, contingent or non-contingent claim based on, arising from or relating directly to the conduct, acts or omissions alleged in the Second Amended Complaint, whether or not concealed or hidden, without regard to the subsequent discovery or existence of such different or additional facts.”