According to the docket posted on the site, the Order and Final Judgment approving the settlement and dismissing the case with prejudice was entered by the court on January 27, 2003.

In June 2000, the District Court dismissed with prejudice the consolidated complaint. The plaintiffs appealed the court's final decision. Upon hearing the appeal, a three-judge panel reversed the motion to dismiss and gave the plaintiffs the opportunity to amend their suit and state with more particularity their allegations. The plaintiffs have made a settlement offer of $2.5 million, which has been accepted by the Company's insurer. The Company believes that the members of the class will give final consent to the insurer's offer and, in the near future, the case will be dismissed as settled, at no additional cost to the Company.

In 1997, two lawsuits were filed by persons seeking to represent a class of shareholders of the Company who purchased shares of the Company's common stock between May 26, 1995 and September 24, 1996. Each plaintiff named the Company and certain of its officers and directors as defendants.

The complaints alleged acts of fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendants which induced the plaintiffs to purchase the Company's common stock and alleged illegal insider trading by certain of the defendants, each of which allegedly resulted in losses to the plaintiffs and similarly situated shareholders of the Company. Specifically, the original complaint alleged that throughout the Class Period, defendants concealed the severe adverse impact that Apple South's acquisition of 18 Applebee's restaurants from Marcus was having on Apple South's business, the failure of the Tomato Rumba's expansion efforts and its adverse impact on Apple South, the adverse impact Apple South's aggressive cost control efforts were having on its Applebee's restaurants, the fact that Apple South's EPS prospects were much worse than forecasted, and the fact that its expansion program would have to be drastically scaled back.

In 1998, one of these suits (Artel Foam Corporation Pension Trust, et al. v. Apple South, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. CV-97-6189) was dismissed. An amended complaint, styled John Bryant, et al. vs. Apple South, Inc., et al. consolidating previous actions was filed in January 1998.

During 1999, the Company received a favorable ruling from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals relating to the remaining suit. As a result of the ruling, the District Court again considered the motion to dismiss the case, and the defendants renewed their motion to dismiss in December 1999.