In Re Critical Path, Inc. Securities Litigation

OPINION AND ORDER

In these thirty-two private plaintiff class actions (“these actions”), certain shareholders of Critical Path, Inc. (“Critical Path”) have brought suits charging Critical Path and various of its officers and directors and its outside auditor, Pricewater-houseCoopers, with having disseminated materially misleading information concerning the company’s future profitability during a period commencing July 2000 and continuing until February 2001, and with other acts all in violation of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The procedure governing these actions is found in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PSLRA”), 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4, which mandates a number of steps to be taken by Court and counsel before the actual preparation for trial. Counsel, after filing a complaint, with the sworn certification required by the statute, must then give notice, not later than twenty days after the date on which the complaint is filed, by publication in a widely circulated national business-oriented publication or wire service advising members of the purported class of the…