Processing your request


please wait...

Case Page

 

Case Status:    SETTLED  
—On or around 05/17/2005 (Date of order of final judgment)
Current/Last Presiding Judge:  
Hon. John Hannah Jr.

Filing Date: April 25, 2002

Universal Access, Inc. is in the telecommunications field.

The original Complaint charges Universal Access and certain of its officers and directors with issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the class period, thereby artificially inflating the price of Universal Access publicly traded securities in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the relevant time period.

As previously disclosed by the Company’s FORM 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2004, on March 7, 2003, the Court granted a motion to dismiss the Complaint and granted Plaintiffs the opportunity to replead with respect to a minority of the alleged misstatements. On May 27, 2003, Plaintiffs filed a second amended consolidated Complaint. Pursuant to the Court’s September 17, 2003 order, on October 1, 2003, Plaintiffs filed a revised second amended consolidated Complaint. On April 16, 2004, the Court dismissed the action against two of the individual Defendants but denied the motion to dismiss as to the remaining Defendants. Plaintiffs are to file a motion for class certification on August 20, 2004. The matter, which then went to the discovery phase, was set for trial on April 5, 2005.

On January 21, 2005, a Joint Motion for Settlement was filed by the lead Plaintiffs. On January 25, 2005, the Court entered the Order preliminarily approving the class action settlement. On May 17, 2005, the Court entered the Order and Final Judgment. According to the Order, the Court certifies the action as a class for purposes of settlement. This action and the consolidated suits are dismissed with prejudice. The Court appoints Garden City Group as the Claims Administrator. The Plan of Allocation is approved as fair and reasonable, and Plaintiffs' co-lead Counsel and the Claims Administrator are directed to administer the Stipulation in accordance with its terms and provisions. On May 9, 2006, the Court entered the Order granting the Motion for Distribution of Class Funds, Acceptance of Authorized Claims and Approval of Payment of Final Administration Expenses and Fees. According to the Notice of Pendency, the settlement fund was in the amount of $11 million.

Protected Content


Please Log In or Sign Up for a free account to access restricted features of the Clearinghouse website, including the Advanced Search form and the full case pages.

When you sign up, you will have the option to save your search queries performed on the Advanced Search form.