According to the latest docket posted, on May 31, 2000, the Court entered the Order signed by U.S. District Judge Alfred J. Lechner, Jr., granting defendants’ motion to dismiss the action. The action was dismissed with prejudice and the case closed.
As previously reported by the Company’s FORM 10-QSB For the Quarterly Period ended March 31, 2000, on October 22, 1998, the District Judge entered an order appointing lead plaintiff to represent the interests of all class members. On March 28, 1999, the District Judge appointed lead counsel to represent the class. On April 28, 1999, the class filed a Consolidated and Amended Class Action Complaint, naming as defendants the Company and three present and former executive officer and director. The Consolidated Complaint alleges that the Company issued false and misleading statements concerning, among other things, certain studies and reports on the Company's products, the Company's backlog and the amount of reserve taken for returns. Milestone believes that the material allegations of the Consolidated Complaint do not state a cause of action under the Federal Securities Law and on May 21, 1999 served a motion to dismiss the Consolidated Complaint for failure to state a claim. The class has responded to the motion and the Company filed a reply. The Motion was submitted to the Court in September 1999, but no decision has yet been rendered. Instead, on March 1, 2000, the Court held oral argument on the Motion to Dismiss, at the end of which the court requested supplemental memoranda of law on one issue. The Supplemental Memoranda Of Law were filed on March 16 and 22, 2000..
According to the docket for the first filed complaint, case number 98-CV-2853, on August 18, 1998, the Court entered the Pretrial Scheduling Order No. 1 consolidating the case, for all purposes. with lead case 98-CV-3404.
The original Complaint names Milestone and certain of the Company's officers and directors as defendants, alleging that these parties violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, as well as SEC Rule l0b-5 promulgated thereunder, by originating a series of materially misleading statements and omissions concerning the Company's business prospects and operations during the Class Period. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that the defendants misrepresented that the Company's new product was meeting with widespread acceptance by dentists, when, in fact, the purported acceptance had been achieved by improper means -- the undisclosed payments of stock options worth more than $1 million to researchers to provide glowing testimonials regarding the Company's products. Additionally, Plaintiff alleges that the Company misrepresented that the Company was selling significant amounts of the products when, in fact, the Company was experiencing a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction from consumers and distributors, which in turn resulted in an enormous and undisclosed level of returns and refunds. These misrepresentations and omissions had the aggregate effect of artificially inflating the share prices of Milestone's stock, until the truth was revealed at the end of the Class Period. On June 4 and 5, 1998, the stock fell from $14 13/16 to $8 13/16 after the adverse facts were revealed. However, Plaintiff alleges that Milestone insiders took advantage of the artificially inflated share prices by selling thousands of shares of Milestone stock during the Class Period, thereby amassing proceeds of more than $5.3 million.