FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

In re VERITAS SOFTWARE 

CORPORATION SECURITIES

LITIGATION.

RICHARD J. PETRONE, on behalf of

himself and others similarly

situated, UNITED FOOD AND

COMMERCIAL WORKERS UNION

LOCAL 880-RETAIL FOOD

EMPLOYEES JOINT PENSION FUND,

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND Nos. 05-17393 CARPENTERS JOINT PENSION 06-15435 TRUST FOR SOUTHERN NEVADA,

HAWAII  D.C. No. ELECTRICIANS PENSION

FUND, and HAWAII ELECTRICIANS CV-03-0283 MMC

ANNUITY FUND, OPINION

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

VERITAS SOFTWARE CORPORATION,

GARY L. BLOOM, KENNETH E.

LONCHAR, PAUL A. SALLABERRY,

and MARK LESLIE,

Defendants,

v.

MICHAEL MALONE,

Movant-Appellant. 

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of California

Maxine Chesney, District Judge, Presiding

9023
Argued and Submitted

May 17, 2007—San Francisco, California

Filed July 25, 2007

Before: Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain and Sandra S. Ikuta,

Circuit Judges, and Leonard B. Sand,* Senior District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Sand

*The Honorable Leonard B. Sand, Senior United States District Judge

for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. 

9024 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
COUNSEL

I. Stephen Rabin, Rabin & Peckel LLP, New York, New

York, for the movant-appellant. 

Patrick J. Coughlin, Sanford Svetcov, Susan K. Alexander,

Jeffrey W. Lawrence, and Maria V. Morris, Lerach Coughlin

Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Francisco, California, for the plaintiffs-appellees. 

9026 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
OPINION

SAND, Senior District Judge: 

This case requires the Court to interpret the notice requirements of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

(PSLRA), 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4 (2000), when a securities class

action is to be settled. Appellant, a member of the class of

securities holders, appeals from an order of the district court

approving a settlement and plan of allocation, arguing that the

notice of proposed settlement sent to the class was inadequate

under the PSLRA and raising several substantive objections

to the plan of allocation. Appellant also appeals from the district court’s order denying his application for attorneys’ fees.

Because we find that the notice did not comply with the

requirements of the PSLRA, we vacate in part and remand.

Because the application was untimely, we affirm the denial of

attorneys’ fees for work performed prior to the fee application. 

FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

The Underlying Case

This case stems from the settlement of a class action on

behalf of all persons or entities who purchased publicly traded

securities of VERITAS Software Corporation between January 3, 2001 and January 16, 2003. The complaint alleges that

VERITAS falsely represented that it had entered a $50 million deal with AOL, structured to appear as if VERITAS had

sold $50 million in software and services to AOL and had

purchased $20 million in online advertising from AOL. This

“roundtrip” transaction allowed both companies to artificially

inflate their revenues and earnings. 

On November 14, 2002, VERITAS for the first time

revealed in a Form 10-Q that it had been served with a subpoena by the Securities Exchange Commission three months

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9027
earlier requesting documents related to the transaction with

AOL. The company also stated that it was reviewing its

accounting treatment of the transaction. 

On January 17, 2003, VERITAS restated its financials for

fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to eliminate the improper recognition of approximately $20 million in revenue from the AOL

transaction. 

Plaintiffs allege that because of the company’s false representations, the price of VERITAS securities was artificially

inflated and all who purchased securities at the inflated price

during the class period were injured. 

The class was certified and a group of four union pension

funds were appointed lead plaintiffs with Lerach, Coughlin,

Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins LLP as lead counsel.1 The

district court dismissed the original complaint and the first

amended complaint with leave to amend for failure to allege

scienter adequately. Defendants moved to dismiss the second

amended complaint, but the parties agreed to settle while the

motion was pending. 

The Initial Settlement

Lead plaintiffs and defendants agreed to settle the case in

early 2005 for $35 million in cash. Lead plaintiffs maintain

that this figure is about 20% of the maximum amount of damages they could prove at trial. In the stipulation of settlement,

defendants disclaimed any responsibility for, or desire to

become involved with, the allocation of the settlement proceeds. The district court preliminarily approved the settlement

1The firm Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, LLP, was originally appointed lead counsel. On May 1, 2004, the firm split into two

firms: Milberg, Weiss, Bershad & Schulman, LLP and Lerach, Coughlin,

Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins, LLP. This case went to Lerach

Coughlin. 

9028 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
on March 18, 2005 and lead counsel sent notice of the proposed settlement to the class members in late March 2005.

The notice provided that only purchasers of VERITAS common stock would be able to participate in the settlement,

despite the fact that VERITAS had four other categories of

publicly traded securities (5.25% Notes, 1.856% Notes, call

options, and put options) that were covered by the class

action. The notice represented that the “estimated average

recovery per share will be approximately $0.25.” 

Malone’s Initial Objections and the Amended Settlement

Appellant Michael Malone, a class member, objected to the

initial proposed settlement on the grounds that it unfairly

excluded four classes of VERITAS publicly traded securities

from distribution of settlement funds although they were part

of the class and on the ground that the notice was inadequate

because it provided too short a time to object. In response to

Malone’s objections, the lead plaintiffs and defendants

amended the proposed settlement on May 4, 2005 to include

the other four classes of securities. The amended settlement’s

plan of allocation provided for different distributions of settlement proceeds to holders of the different classes of securities

based on the type of security and the timing of their transactions. On May 6, 2005 a revised notice was sent to the class,

which also stated that the “estimated average recovery per

share of common stock will be approximately $0.25.” 

Malone’s Additional Objections

The Court received seven objections to the revised proposed settlement out of about 494,000 class members noticed.

Six of those objections were to the size of lead counsel’s fee.

Only Malone objected to the substance of the settlement.

Malone objected to: (1) the payment of settlement proceeds to

so-called “in-and-out traders”—those who bought and sold

their securities prior to VERITAS’s initial disclosure of its

intent to review the accounting of the AOL transaction and

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9029
therefore could not show loss causation under the rule that the

Supreme Court announced in Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v.

Broudo, 544 U.S. 336, 342 (2005); (2) the disparate treatment

of options traders both in imposing a cap of 2% of the net settlement fund on the claims of options traders and precluding

recovery by in-and-out options traders; and (3) a plan of allocation that Malone claimed was inconsistent with the

PSLRA’s method of calculating damages. After a fairness

hearing where Malone raised questions about how possible

damages were calculated and how the estimated average

recovery of $0.25 per share was calculated, the district court

ordered supplemental briefing to explain how these estimates

were derived. In his supplemental papers, Malone maintained

that the estimated average recovery per share if all shares filed

claims would be $0.085. In reply, lead plaintiffs explained

that their estimated average recovery per share of $0.25 was

based on an assumption that only 43% of the class members

would actually file claims (an estimate they said was supported by a NERA Economic Consulting study showing that

on average about 43% of class action claimants file a claim).2

2At oral argument on appeal, counsel for lead plaintiff asserted that the

estimated average recovery per share of $0.25 was not derived from an

assumption that 43% of class members would make claims, but rather an

assumption that 75-80% would make claims. This contention is nowhere

in the record. Counsel explained that lead plaintiffs’ expert never stated

that he based his calculations on the 43% figure; he merely cited the

NERA study and used the 43% figure to criticize Malone’s expert’s calculation. In response to lead counsel’s assertion that the $0.25 per share estimate was based on 75-80% of class members making claims, Malone’s

counsel stated at oral argument, “This is the first time I’ve heard about it.

It’s not even in any of the briefs.” In fact, despite lead plaintiffs’ counsel’s

representation to this Court at oral argument that if 75-80% of class members participated in the $35 million settlement they would get $0.25 per

share, lead plaintiff’s opposition brief states: “This estimate was based on

an assumption that approximately 43% of class members would file

claims.” 

9030 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
The District Court Order Approving the Settlement

The district court approved the amended settlement and

plan of allocation in an order issued on November 15, 2005.

Applying the factors in Hanlon v. Chrysler Corp., 150 F.3d

1011, 1026 (9th Cir. 1998), the court determined that the

strength of the case; the risk, expense, complexity, and likely

duration of further litigation; the amount offered in settlement, the extent of discovery, and stage of the proceedings;

and the experience and views of counsel all favored approval.

The court determined that the risk of maintaining class action

status throughout trial and the absence of a governmental participant were neutral. In evaluating the reaction of class members to the proposed settlement, the court noted that of the

494,000 class members, only Malone had raised substantive

objections to the plan of allocation. The court then addressed

and rejected each of Malone’s objections: 

(1) On the treatment of in-and-out traders, the district court

noted that the initial settlement was reached before Dura was

decided on April 15, 2005, and under prior Ninth Circuit law,

in-and-out traders were entitled to recovery. The court held

that the parties were entitled to settle the action in light of the

risk that the law might change and the settlement allocation

was fair and reasonable in its treatment of in-and-out traders

because it provided for lower recovery for such traders than

for other investors in light of the uncertainty as to whether

they could prove damages.

(2) On the disparate treatment of options traders, the district

court found that the 2% cap on total options recovery was fair

and reasonable. The court noted the cost and difficulty of calculating options damages and that the 2% cap was roughly

proportional to the total volume of options traded relative to

the volume of stock traded. The court also held that the decision not to allocate settlement funds to in-and-out options

traders (while at the same time allocating funds to in-and-out

traders of all other classes of securities) was reasonable

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9031
because of the cost and difficulty of calculating economic

losses for options and the small amount of damages suffered

by in-and-out options traders.

(3) On the applicability of the PSLRA’s method of calculating damages, the district court held that distribution of settlement funds based on the price of the security calculated on

the day of the disclosure instead of calculated according to the

PSLRA’s “90-day bounce back rule”

3

 was fair and reasonable

even though it would result in payments to some class members who could not have recovered at trial. The court reasoned

that the PSLRA rule does not, on its face, apply to settlements

and there was no showing that failure to apply the rule

resulted in significant numbers of class members being overcompensated to the detriment of the remainder of the class.

The district court did not address the adequacy of the

revised notice of proposed settlement or the basis of the calculations of estimated average per share recovery it contained.

The court approved the settlement and plan of allocation,

awarded lead counsel attorneys’ fees of $6 million (reduced

from the $8.1 million they were seeking) plus costs, and

entered judgment on November 15, 2005.

3The PSLRA, 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(e)(1), limits the amount of damages

that plaintiffs can recover at trial to the difference between the purchase

price and the average trading price during the 90-day period following the

corrective disclosure. This “90-day bounce back rule” (as the parties refer

to it) limits the plaintiffs to rescissory damages and does not calculate

damages based on the single day decline in price, but instead allows the

security an opportunity to recover. Calculation of damages is slightly more

complicated if plaintiffs sell the security within 90 days; damages are

capped at the average trading price between the disclosure date and the

sale date. 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(e)(2). Malone argues that the failure to apply

the rule unfairly distributes settlement funds to some class members who

would not have been able to recover at trial because they purchased their

shares at a lower price than the 90-day average, but a higher price than the

price on the day after disclosure. 

9032 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
Malone’s Fee Application

On December 14, 2005, twenty-nine days after judgment

was entered, Malone’s counsel made an application for an

award of attorneys’ fees of $780,000 and expenses of

$19,087.50. The district court denied the application as fifteen

days too late under Rule 54 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and found that Malone’s misinterpretation of the

court’s order retaining jurisdiction over fee applications as

extending the fourteen day filing deadline did not constitute

excusable neglect. 

The district court also held that even if the fee application

had been timely, Malone’s counsel would only be entitled to

fees for work connected with his initial objection. Although

the initial objection conferred a substantial benefit on the

class, the fee award would be modest in light of the minimal

number of hours counsel spent preparing the objection. The

court stated that Malone’s counsel would not be entitled to

fees for work connected with the second set of objections

because they were denied and conferred no benefit on the

class. The court did not determine the precise amount of fees

to which Malone’s counsel would have been entitled had his

application been timely filed.

* * *

This appeal followed. Lead counsel has already been paid

pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement, but the proceeds of the settlement have not been distributed to the class

members and are sitting in escrow pending resolution of this

appeal.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Malone raises five issues. First, he argues that

the settlement notice was inadequate because it failed to comply with the requirements of the PSLRA. Second, Malone

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9033
argues that, in light of Dura, the district court erred by allowing in-and-out traders to participate in the settlement proceeds. Third, Malone argues that the district court should have

applied the method of calculating damages in the 90-day

bounce back provision of the PSLRA when allocating settlement proceeds. Fourth, Malone argues that the district court’s

disparate treatment of options traders—capping their recovery

at 2% of the net settlement fund and not allowing in-and-out

options traders to recover—was an abuse of discretion.

Finally, Malone argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying his counsel’s fee application because it was

filed fifteen days late. 

This Court reviews a district court’s approval of an allocation plan in a class action settlement for abuse of discretion.

In re Mego Fin. Corp. Sec. Litig., 213 F.3d 454, 460 (9th Cir.

2000). Any necessary legal questions are reviewed de novo.

In re The Exxon Valdez, 229 F.3d 790, 795 (9th Cir. 2000).

A district court’s decision to deny attorneys’ fees is also

reviewed for abuse of discretion. Barrios v. Cal. Interscholastic Fed’n, 277 F.3d 1128, 1133 (9th Cir. 2002).

Because the adequacy of the notice is antecedent to the

merits of the settlement, we consider the notice issue first.

See, e.g., In re Corel Corp. Sec. Litig., 293 F. Supp. 2d 484,

491 (E.D. Pa. 2003) (“A decision that notice is appropriate is

required before any inquiry is made into the merits of the settlement itself.”). 

Adequacy of the Revised Notice of Proposed Settlement

Malone argues that the revised notice of proposed settlement was inadequate because it failed to meet the PSLRA

requirement that it provide a calculation of the amount of settlement proposed to be distributed on a per share basis.

Malone argues that the notice was misleading because it calculated the estimated average recovery per share of common

9034 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
stock at $0.25 based on an undisclosed assumption that only

43% of class members would file a claim. 

[1] As a threshold matter, lead plaintiffs argue that this

issue is not preserved for appeal because Malone never raised

it before the district court. A review of the record reveals that

Malone raised the issue of the adequacy of the revised notice

and questioned lead plaintiffs’ method of calculation on at

least three occasions: (1) In his Supplemental Memorandum

in Further Support of his Objections to Proposed Settlement

dated July 25, 2005, Malone questioned the calculations of

lead plaintiffs and asked the court to compel them to disclose

the basis of those calculations; (2) at the Fairness Hearing on

July 29, 2005, Malone questioned the basis of the calculations

and the district court ordered further briefing on the issue; and

(3) in his Memorandum in Further Objection to the Proposed

Plan of Allocation dated September 27, 2005, Malone called

for a revised notice because lead plaintiffs failed to set forward the basis for their calculations. Malone never raised the

specific argument presented here—that the method of calculating per share recovery based on an undisclosed assumption

that only 43% of the class would file claims violates the

notice requirements of the PSLRA—before the district court

because he never had the opportunity to do so. Lead plaintiffs

did not disclose their method of calculating per share recovery

until the expert declaration accompanying their reply brief

dated October 14, 2005, the last submission before the district

court issued its order approving the settlement and plan of

allocation on November 15, 2005. The district court did not

address the adequacy of notice in its order. In as much as

Malone raised the issue of the adequacy of the notice at every

opportunity he had, he has not waived the issue on appeal.

Whether the notice complied with the requirements of the

PSLRA is a question of law, so a remand to the district court

is not necessary to decide that specific issue in the first

instance. 

[2] The PSLRA requires that every settlement notice must

include a statement of plaintiff recovery: “The amount of the

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9035
settlement proposed to be distributed to the parties to the

action, determined in the aggregate and on an average per

share basis.” 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(7)(A). The notice must

also include a statement of “the average amount of damages

per share that would be recoverable if the plaintiff prevailed

on each claim alleged.” 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(7)(B). 

[3] It is clear that the purpose of the notice requirement is

to allow class members to evaluate a proposed settlement.

With sufficient notice, class members can compare the recovery per share under the settlement with the potential damages

per share if the class prevailed at trial and weigh the risks and

rewards of proceeding to trial or participating in the proposed

settlement. The Conference Committee Report notes that the

PSLRA requires improved settlement notices to class members because “[c]lass members often receive insufficient

notice of the terms of a proposed settlement and, thus, have

no basis to evaluate the settlement.” H.R. Rep. No. 104-369,

at 36 (1995), reprinted in 1995 U.S.C.C.A.N. 730, 735. Several courts have noted this purpose in dicta. See, e.g., In re

Indep. Energy Holdings PLC Sec. Litig., 302 F. Supp. 2d 180,

184 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) (“One of the concerns Congress had in

enacting the PSLRA was to ensure that class members

received sufficient, comprehensible notice so they could evaluate proposed settlements intelligently.”). 

[4] In this case, the revised notice of proposed settlement

said:

Depending on the number and type of eligible securities that participate in the settlement and when those

shares were purchased and sold, the estimated average payment for common stock will be approximately $0.25 for each share before deduction of

court-approved fees and expenses. The number of

claimants who send in claims varies widely from

case to case. If fewer than anticipated Settlement

9036 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
Class Members send in a claim form, you could get

more money. 

The $0.25 per share estimate was not based on all class members filing claims, but rather on an undisclosed assumption

that only a fraction of class members would actually file their

claims. Even at this late point in the litigation (after the trial

court requested supplemental briefing on the issue and after

briefing and argument on appeal), what that assumption actually was remains elusive.4

 The exact assumption (whether

43% or some other percentage) that lead plaintiffs used, however, is immaterial to our conclusion here; what matters is that

the assumption was undisclosed and was significantly less

than 100%. According to Malone’s expert, if 100% of the

class members filed claims, the average recovery per share

would be closer to $0.085.5 Malone argues that the PSLRA

4Citing a NERA Economic Consulting study which found that, on average, only 43% of class members file claims, lead plaintiffs’ expert asserted

in his reply declaration that Malone’s calculation of recovery per share,

which was based on a higher estimate of the number of shares eligible for

recovery and an assumption that 100% of class members would file

claims, would be less reliable than the estimate that lead plaintiff’s expert

provided in the revised notice of proposed settlement. While lead plaintiffs’ expert did not explicitly state that he based his estimate on the

assumption that only 43% of class members would file claims, this was

the position that lead plaintiffs took in their opposition brief before this

Court. At oral argument, however, counsel for lead plaintiff stated that the

$0.25 per share estimate in the revised proposed notice was based on an

assumption that 75-80% of class members would file claims—a contention that is nowhere in the record. See supra note 2. 

5Malone’s expert and lead plaintiffs’ expert differ in their calculations

of recovery per share in more ways than just the assumption of how many

class members will file claims. For example, lead plaintiff’s expert asserts

that Malone’s expert inflated the number of shares that were damaged and

therefore eligible for recovery. But both experts acknowledge that the

assumed percentage of class members who will file claims is a major factor in the calculation. Using lead plaintiffs’ other calculations, but assuming that all class members file claims, Malone estimates that average

recovery per share would be slightly less than $0.11. Using Malone’s

other calculations, but assuming only 43% of class members make claims,

lead plaintiffs estimate that average recovery per share would be about

$0.20. 

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9037
requires that the average per share recovery be calculated

based on a distribution to all class members. Lead plaintiffs

defend their estimate as one based on a real world assumption

supported by academic literature. They argue that their “more

realistic estimate” satisfies the notice requirements of the

PSLRA. The parties cite no cases interpreting the notice

requirements of the PSLRA. The cases that Malone cites, In

re Charter Communications, Inc. Sec. Litig., No. MDL 1506,

4:02-CV-1186 CAS, 2005 WL 4045741, at *23 (E.D. Mo.

June 30, 2005) and In re Global Crossing Sec. & ERISA

Litig., 225 F.R.D. 436, 450 (S.D.N.Y. 2004), merely note, in

dicta, that notices providing estimated recovery per share

based on every class member filing a claim are consistent

with the requirements of the PSLRA. Interpretation of the

notice requirements of the PSLRA appears to be a question of

first instance in this and all other circuits.

[5] The PSLRA’s purpose of allowing class members to

evaluate a proposed settlement would be frustrated if lead

plaintiffs could apply undisclosed assumptions to their estimated average recovery per share. Malone’s interpretation

that “the amount of settlement proposed to be distributed to

the parties to the action,” 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(7)(A) (emphasis added), means all of the parties to the action, not some

estimated portion of the parties who are likely to file claims,

is more consistent with the text and the purpose of the statute.

When § 78u-4(a)(7)(A) is read in conjunction with the rest of

§ 78u-4(a)(7), which refers to “the average amount of damages per share that would be recoverable if the plaintiffs prevailed on each claim alleged,” it appears that Congress was

referring to the amount that each class member would be entitled to—an amount that can only make sense if it is based on

all of the shares in the class.

[6] The best reading of the PSLRA notice requirements is

that the estimated average recovery per share must be based

on all of the shares in the class. This interpretation has the salutary effect of ensuring uniformity. It is clear that the PSLRA

9038 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
notice requirements are not satisfied if the per share estimates

are based on undisclosed assumptions that fewer than 100%

of class members will make claims. But nothing in this holding should preclude proponents of a settlement from also

including estimated average per share recovery based on

explicitly disclosed projections of how many class members

are likely to file claims. We need not now decide whether

notices in class action settlements heretofore filed, which contain an explicit statement that the estimated average recovery

per share is based on a specific disclosed estimate of the percentage of class members likely to file claims, violate the

PSLRA notice requirements.

[7] The notice in this case clearly did not satisfy the

requirements of the PSLRA. Not only did it fail to disclose

that the per share recovery calculations were based on an

assumption that only a fraction of class members would file

claims, the notice was misleading. It implied that the calculations were based on 100% of the class filing claims. The

notice said that recovery could be greater if fewer than

expected class members filed claims, saying in no uncertain

terms “you could get more money,” but gave no indication of

the possibility that recovery could be less if more class members than expected filed claims. In the absence of any disclosure to the contrary, a reasonable class member would

conclude that the per share estimates were based on all of the

class members filing claims.

While it is not integral to our interpretation of the PSLRA’s

notice requirements, we note that lead plaintiffs’ obfuscation

was not limited to the misleading wording of the notice. Lead

plaintiffs affirmatively misrepresented to the district court that

the per share recovery calculations were based on 100% of the

class filing claims. At a hearing before preliminary approval

of the proposed settlement, counsel for lead plaintiffs

explained to the court that the first notice6 provided that “you

6The notice addressed at this preliminary hearing was eventually superceded after Malone’s initial objections and a revised notice of proposed

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9039
are going to get 25 cents for each share that you make a claim

for if everybody makes a claim.”

7

 The statement was obviously not accurate and it may have contributed to the district

court’s decision to approve a notice that did not comply with

the requirements of the PSLRA.

[8] The absence of adequate notice injects a fatal flaw into

the entire settlement process and undermines the district

court’s analysis of the fairness of the settlement under the

Hanlon factors. While the district court has substantial discretion in approving the details of a class action settlement, it

may not do so without giving class members an adequate

opportunity to object. In this case, where the notice was inadequate and overstated the likely recovery per share, it may

have discouraged other objectors from speaking up. The fact

that there was only one objector to the substantive terms of

the settlement—a fact that the district court made much of—

carries little weight in light of the inadequacy of the notice.

Because the revised notice of proposed settlement was inadesettlement was sent to the class. The notice at issue on this appeal is the

revised notice of proposed settlement, but the wording of the two notices

with regard to average recovery per share is, in all material respects, identical and lead plaintiffs did nothing, either before or after the issuance of

the revised notice, to correct their earlier misrepresentation to the district

court that the $0.25 per share estimate was based on “everybody” making

a claim. 

7At oral argument before this Court, counsel for lead plaintiffs asserted

that this was merely a misstatement by class counsel at a preliminary hearing where no class members were present. We fail to see how the absence

of class members lessens the impact of the misrepresentation on the judge

who must decide whether to approve the notice of proposed settlement.

The statement by class counsel caused the district court to observe “that

sounds like a very small amount of money.” In fact, it was more than

twice the amount recoverable “if everybody makes a claim.” Even if class

counsel merely inadvertently misstated the basis for the $0.25 estimate, it

only serves to highlight how misleading the notice was; the natural inference from the wording of the notice was that the estimate was based on

everybody making a claim. 

9040 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
quate under the PSLRA, we vacate the judgment of the district court approving the settlement and plan of allocation and

remand to issue a new notice to the class. 

Substantive Objections to the Plan of Allocation

Because the district court’s approval of the settlement and

plan of allocation must be vacated and the case remanded to

issue a new notice that complies with the requirements of the

PSLRA, we need not reach the issues that Malone raised in

his substantive objections to the plan, i.e., recovery by in-andout traders, the applicability of the PSLRA 90-day bounce

back rule to settlements, or the disparate treatment of options

traders. Accordingly, we express no opinion on these issues.

Malone’s Fee Application

[9] We turn now to whether the district court abused its discretion in denying Malone’s application for attorneys’ fees

because it was filed 15 days late. Rule 54 of the Federal Rules

of Civil Procedure provides that when a party makes a claim

for attorneys’ fees and related nontaxable expenses, “[u]nless

otherwise provided by statute or order of the court, the motion

must be filed no later than 14 days after entry of judgment.

. . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(2)(B). Malone made an application

for attorneys’ fees 29 days after the entry of judgment.

Malone admits that the delay in filing his application was not

due to neglect, but was a deliberate decision to postpone the

fee application because of the “strange” procedural posture of

the case and to avoid duplicative filings in light of his pending

appeal. Failure to comply with the time limit in Rule 54 is a

sufficient reason to deny a motion for fees absent some compelling showing of good cause. Kona Enterprises, Inc. v.

Estate of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 889-90 (9th Cir. 2000). 

Malone makes two arguments why his fee application

should not have been denied as untimely. First, he argues that

the district court expressly retained jurisdiction over fee appliIN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9041
cations, thereby extending the 14-day time limit indefinitely.

Second, he argues that, if the court’s retention of jurisdiction

did not extend the deadline, it was at least ambiguous and his

good faith reliance on that interpretation made his late application the result of excusable neglect. 

The district court’s final judgment states: 

Without affecting the finality of this Judgment in any

way, this Court hereby retains continuing jurisdiction over (a) implementation of this settlement and

any award or distribution of the Settlement Fund,

including interest earned thereon; (b) disposition of

the Settlement Fund; (c) hearing and determining

applications for attorneys’ fees and expenses in the

Litigation; and (d) all parties hereto for the purpose

of construing, enforcing, and administering the Stipulation. 

Malone interprets the district court’s reservation of jurisdiction over fee applications to mean that there was no specific

deadline for filing fee applications. The district court, however, held that “there is no language even arguably extending

the 14-day deadline for filing a motion for attorneys’ fees.”

Malone relies on Fresh Kist Produce, L.L.C. v. Choi Corp.,

362 F. Supp. 2d 118, 124-25 (D.D.C. 2005), where a magistrate judge held that where the district judge’s order creates a

specific procedure for recovering attorneys’ fees and costs

and sets no specific date for requesting fees, the order preempts the 14-day time limit. The district court distinguished

Fresh Kist because its order did not create a specific procedure for fee requests. 

Malone also argues that if the district court’s order did not

extend the 14-day time limit, then its retention of continuing

jurisdiction was meaningless because it already had jurisdiction to entertain fee requests for 14-days under Rule 54. This

9042 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.
argument is unpersuasive. As the district court explained, it

was simply providing a complete listing of the matters over

which it was retaining jurisdiction, “irrespective of whether

such retention was provided for elsewhere as well.” Nothing

in the district court’s order indicated an intent to modify the

default 14-day time limit provided in Rule 54. The district

court did not abuse its discretion in finding that its order had

not extended the deadline to apply for fees. 

Second, Malone argues that because he acted in good faith

reliance on his belief that the district court’s “ambiguous”

order extended the 14-day time limit, his untimely filing was

the result of excusable neglect and should be excused under

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b). To determine whether

neglect is excusable, a court must consider four factors: “(1)

the danger of prejudice to the opposing party; (2) the length

of the delay and its potential impact on the proceedings; (3)

the reason for the delay; and (4) whether the movant acted in

good faith.” Bateman v. U.S. Postal Serv., 231 F.3d 1220,

1223-24 (9th Cir. 2000) (citing Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v.

Brunswick Assocs. Ltd. P’ship, 507 U.S. 380, 395 (1993)).

The district court found that the length of delay was not great

and that the lead plaintiffs had not shown that they were prejudiced, but that Malone failed on the third factor—the reason

for the delay. The court found that Malone’s asserted reason

for the delay (set forth in a footnote in his reply brief, not a

sworn declaration) that he deliberately chose to postpone the

fee application because of the awkward procedural posture of

the case and because he thought that the district court’s order

extended the deadline for fee applications, was not neglect at

all and certainly not a compelling showing of good cause. 

[10] In the end, this is a decision committed to the discretion of the district court. While the district court would not

have abused its discretion in granting Malone’s fee application, it did not abuse its discretion in denying it. The district

court’s decision denying Malone’s fee application on the

grounds of untimeliness is affirmed. Because the application

IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP. 9043
was untimely we need not reach the question of whether it

was proper for the district court to decline consideration of the

time Malone’s counsel expended on unsuccessful objections.

This holding is, of course, without prejudice to Malone’s right

to apply to the district court for fees after a new judgment is

issued. 

CONCLUSION

For the reasons stated above, the judgment of the district

court is affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part.

The approval of the settlement and plan of allocation is

vacated and the case is remanded to the district court to issue

a new notice that complies with the requirements of the

PSLRA. The judgment of the district court denying Malone’s

application for attorneys’ fees is affirmed with respect to services performed prior to his fee application.

AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED AND

REMANDED IN PART.

9044 IN RE VERITAS SOFTWARE CORP.