According to the firm's 10-K dated 03/30/1999, in December 1998, the Company finalized an agreement to settle for $10.0 million the consolidated stockholder class action. The Company's total cost under the agreement, including legal fees, after insurance and other participation, was approximately $3.3 million which was paid in November 1998. The Company recorded a charge in that amount during the second quarter of 1998. After notice to the class, the court, on December 14, 1998, granted final approval of the proposed settlement and dismissed the class actions.

On June 9, 1997, the Court entered the Order transferring the case from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to the District of New Jersey, Newark Division, filed as a related case to Barbara Einhorn vs. USA Detergents, Inc., et al C.A. No. 97-2459.

The original complaint, the plaintiff claimed that during the Class Period the defendants concealed material information concerning the costs and expenses associated with building USAD's national distribution infrastructure, the lack of adequate internal accounting controls and the effect on the Company's operational and financial condition. The plaintiff claimed that the misrepresentations and omission were designed to and did artificially inflate USAD's stock price, causing damage to him and other investors who bought USAD common stock during the Class Period.

A class action complaint with similar allegations was also filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.