Robbins Geller Secures $179 Million Settlement on Eve of Trial in Securities Class Action Against Acadia Healthcare

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP secured a $179 million recovery for investors in a securities fraud class action against Acadia Healthcare. The case resolved just days before a jury trial was set to begin in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. 

“Obtaining such an outsized settlement for Acadia investors on the brink of trial shows the impact committed lead plaintiffs can have. We look forward to presenting the settlement to the Court,” lead trial counsel and Robbins Geller partner Darryl J. Alvarado told Bloomberg Law about the proposed resolution, which is subject to court review and approval.

The case arose from allegedly false and misleading statements made to investors regarding Acadia’s medical facilities’ quality of care, staffing levels, and regulatory compliance, and the company’s revenue and earnings growth. 

Robbins Geller was appointed lead counsel by the court in 2019 and since then, the Firm defeated defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, secured class certification, and defeated defendants’ Rule 23(f) petition to the Sixth Circuit regarding class certification. Both plaintiffs and defendants filed motions for partial summary judgment in the lead-up to trial. The court granted plaintiffs’ motion and denied defendants’ motion, clearing the way for a jury trial.

Jury trials in federal securities class action cases are rare. Since the modernization of U.S. securities law in 1995, no firm has successfully tried more of these cases than Robbins Geller. Last year, Robbins Geller and co-counsel secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action recovery involving a SPAC ($126.3 million) in a case against Alta Mesa that settled midway through a multi-week jury trial in federal court in Houston. The Firm’s other recoveries close to or subsequent to trial include: Household ($1.575 billion); American Realty ($1.025 billion); Twitter ($809.5 million); Apple ($490 million); Under Armour ($434 million); and First Solar ($350 million).

Robbins Geller attorneys Darren Robbins, Darryl J. Alvarado, Christopher M. Wood, Jerry E. Martin, Sam S. Sheldon, J. Marco Janoski Gray, Ting H. Liu, and T. Alex B. Folkerth represented lead plaintiffs Chicago & Vicinity Laborers’ District Council Pension Fund and New York Hotel Trades Council & Hotel Association of New York City, Inc. Pension Fund in achieving this excellent result for Acadia investors.

St. Clair County Employees’ Retirement System v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., No. 3:18-cv-00988 (M.D. Tenn.).