HUNTINGTON, W.Va., Feb. 19 -- Champion Industries: On February 16, 2002 a jury verdict was rendered against the Company in a civil action brought against the Company in state court in Jackson, Mississippi. The plaintiffs in this civil action asserted that the Company and its Dallas Printing Company, Inc. subsidiary had engaged in unfair competition and other wrongful acts in hiring certain of its employees. The jury awarded the plaintiffs $1,745,000 in actual damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. The Company has been advised that it has no insurance coverage for this award. The Company under Mississippi law has a guaranteed right to appeal. The Company intends to appeal this verdict and has been advised by counsel that it has multiple grounds for an appeal and a reasonable basis for believing that an appeal would be successful. Champion is a commercial printer, business forms manufacturer and office products and office furniture supplier in regional markets east of the Mississippi. Champion serves its customers through the following companies/divisions: Chapman Printing (West Virginia and Kentucky), Stationers, Champion Clarksburg, Capitol Business Interiors, Carolina Cut Sheets and Champion Morgantown (West Virginia), The Merten Company and Garrison Brewer (Ohio), Smith & Butterfield (Indiana and Kentucky), Bourque Printing, Upton Printing, Transdata Systems and Diez Business Machines (Louisiana), Dallas Printing (Mississippi), U.S. Tag (Maryland), Interform Solutions and Consolidated Graphic Communications (Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey), Donihe Graphics (Tennessee) and Blue Ridge Printing (North Carolina and Tennessee).