According to the docket 02-CV-5160, after the case was ordered dismissed, on July 15, 2002, the plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On September 9, 2002, the Court entered the Mandate from the Ninth Circuit dismissing the appeal. On October 10, 2002, the Court entered the Judgment and Order signed by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson. The action was dismissed with prejudice and judgment entered in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiffs. The plaintiff again filed a Notice of Appeal, and then voluntarily dismissed the appeal on January 28, 2003.

The case was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. On June 17, 2002, the Court entered the Order granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s amended class action complaint. On June 28, the Court issued a Notice for an intra-district transfer, and the case was reassigned to the Western Division, with new case number CV 02-5160PA(Ex) and assigned to U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson for all further proceedings.

The original complaint charges Apria Healthcare Group ("Apria'' or the "Company"), as well as Apria's Chief Executive Officer, with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 arising from defendants' false and misleading statements regarding the extent of Apria's potential liability from certain billing practices. The complaint alleges that, during the class period, Apria's shares traded at prices that were artificially inflated by defendants' failure to disclose the potential costs of such liability. After Apria admitted the degree of its potential liability on July 16, 2001, Apria's stock price fell 16% in one day to close at $24.08 per share. The lawsuit seeks to recover losses suffered by individual and institutional investors who purchased shares of the Company during the class period, excluding defendants and their affiliates.