Legal Eagles Eye Vonage

Vonage (VG Quote) could find itself facing class-action lawsuits after last week's botched initial public offering, according to securities lawyers.

The lawyers point to glitches in the company's $531 million IPO, as well as Vonage's apparent decision to allow some customers to cancel their purchases.

In response to customer complaints, Vonage said in a statement to CNBC Tuesday that it would make whole customers who bought the IPO. The statement didn't make clear what the terms of any offer might be or how many buyers might be involved.

Vonage, which had sought to garner support for its stock by allotting some 15% of the IPO shares to customers, didn't respond to requests for additional information.

But following the stock's 26% plunge in its first four days of trading, Vonage now confronts a host of angry customers -- as well as possible legal issues. For one, Vonage would raise eyebrows if it made whole some investors burned by the IPO and not others.

"That discriminates against other investors," says Jacob Zamansky, a New York-based securities attorney with Zamansky & Associates, in an interview. "They created a mess and their way of straightening it out is creating an even bigger disaster."

Vonage hasn't disclosed how any make-whole effort might work. The company didn't respond to repeated requests for comment. Earlier, Vonage said it needed to honor quiet-period rules associated with offerings.

Further complicating the picture are complaints from some Vonage customers that they were led to believe that they weren't allocated shares in the IPO when in fact they had received the shares.

Other investors who purchased shares have complained that technical glitches on a Web site set up for Vonage customers prevented them from executing sales in a timely fashion.

These allegations may attract the attention of plaintiffs' attorneys and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Duke University Law professor James Cox.

"My guess is that the SEC should have an interest in taking a look at this," he says. "The only thing that would prevent this from being class action is if the lawyers didn't think there was anybody on the other side who didn't have money."

Besides these potential legal issues, Vonage has a tough road ahead if it wants to restore credibility on Wall Street. The stock already was a tough sell to investors because the company is losing money and facing intense competition from much larger cable and Internet companies.

Shares of Vonage last traded Tuesday at $12.50, down 52 cents. Its shares were offered for sale last week at $17.

"I don't know if it's possible to rescind the whole IPO, but that's probably what they should be do," says Zamansky.