EX-OFFICIALS' LAWSUIT DEAL HIT BY BOSTON CHICKEN INC.

ROSEANNE HARPER

GOLDEN, Colo. -- Boston Chicken Inc. here is opposing an agreement that three of its former top officials have entered into to settle a class-action suit against them and the company.

The suit against the three officials and the company was filed by a group of shareholders prior to Boston Chicken's filing for Chapter 11 protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Oct. 5, 1998.

The three former top officials -- Scott Beck and Saad Nadhir, former co-chairmen, and Mark Stephens, former chief financial officer -- are seeking to settle the suit solely with respect to claims pending against them as individuals. Part of the agreement also states that no other claims, now or in the future, can be brought against the individuals by any of the other defendants, including the company.

"We vigorously oppose that. It's not in our best interest to give up the right to make claims against anybody," said Karen Rugen, Boston Chicken spokeswoman.

The agreement must be approved by state and federal courts and in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, which has jurisdiction over the company's Chapter 11 proceedings.

Boston Chicken has closed all but about 800 of its Boston Market stores, Rugen said. And the Boston Market stores that were being tested last year in Charlotte, N.C., with a new format, have been converted back to traditional Boston Market formats.

"The next major step for the company will be to present a plan for reorganization, later in the year," Rugen said.

The company has filed a motion for an extension, until July, for filing its reorganization plan, she said.