According to the Company’s FORM 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2003, on April 19, 2002, a single Consolidated Amended Complaint was filed, reiterating in one pleading the allegations contained in the previously filed separate actions, including the alleged Class Period of September 28, 2000 through and including December 6, 2000. On July 15, 2002 the Company joined in an omnibus motion to dismiss the lawsuits filed by all issuer defendants named in similar actions which challenges the legal sufficiency of the plaintiffs’ claims, including those in the consolidated amended complaint. Plaintiffs opposed the motion and the Court heard oral argument on the motion in November 2002. On February 19, 2003, the Court issued an Opinion and Order, granting in part and denying in part the motion to dismiss as to the Company. In addition, in August 2002, the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss without prejudice all of the individual defendants from the consolidated complaint. An order to that effect was entered by the Court in October 2002. A special Litigation Committee of the Board of Directors has authorized the Company to negotiate a settlement of the pending claims substantially consistent with a Memorandum of Understanding which was negotiated among class plaintiffs, all issuer defendants and their insurers. Any such settlement would be subject to approval by the Court.

The complaint alleges violations of Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The complaint further alleges that the Prospectus was materially false and misleading because it failed to disclose, among other things, that: (i) the Underwriter Defendants (Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Salomon Smith Barney) had solicited and received excessive and undisclosed commissions from certain investors in exchange for which the Underwriter Defendants allocated to those investors material portions of the restricted number of Proton Energy shares issued in connection with the Proton Energy IPO; and (ii) the Underwriter Defendants had entered into agreements with customers whereby the Underwriter Defendants agreed to allocate Proton Energy shares to those customers in the Proton Energy IPO in exchange for which the customers agreed to purchase additional Proton Energy shares in the aftermarket at pre-determined prices.