American Dental Partners may have misrepresented its financial condition as evidenced by a punative award against it by its largest customer.

This is a securities class action lawsuit against American Dental Partners, Inc.

American Dental is a leading provider of business services to multidisciplinary dental group practices in selected markets throughout the United States. Park Dental Group ("PDG") located in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, was one of the dental groups who had a long-term contract agreement with American Dental, and provided American Dental with significant revenue. Indeed, PDG accounted for 29 percent of American Dental's consolidated net revenue in 2006. The business relationship between American Dental and PDG worked well for a number of years, but disputes arose in 2004. In February 2006, PDG sued ADPI and its subsidiary. On December 12, 2007, in connection with the lawsuit a jury found ADPI and/or its subsidiary liable for breach of contract, breach of implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference with contract and prospective advantage. The jury awarded PDG $88 million to compensate it for the injuries caused it by American Dental and its subsidiary and punitive damages of $42 million.

After the announcement of the jury verdict, American Dental's stock plummeted from $19.70 a share on December 11, 2007 to $14.34 on December 12, 2007, to $4.62 on December 13, 2007 after the announcement of the punitive damage award.

The securities class action complaint charges American Dental and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market during the Class Period thereby artificially inflating the price of American Dental shares. More specifically, the complaint alleges that American Dental financial statements throughout the Class Period were materially false and misleading because defendants knew that a substantial amount of American Dental's revenue and earnings were obtained by conduct, which was wrongful and tortuous as, found by a jury on December 12, 2007.