Acadia Healthcare agreed to pay $12 million to resolve three shareholder derivative actions that had been pending since 2019, while also committing to $4.75 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses for plaintiffs’ counsel.
The settlement covers the federal derivative action filed in February 2019 and the Delaware Chancery actions filed in October 2020 and February 2021. The cases had been deferred multiple times while related securities litigation played out, and the parties went through three mediations before reaching agreement.
The monetary terms were set in late 2025: a mediator’s proposal on Dec. 23 called for $12 million, and the fee-and-expense amount was finalized at $4.75 million after later negotiations. The parties then executed a term sheet on March 3, 2026.
The litigation history shows the matters expanded over time. The federal case began with claims under Sections 14(a) and 10(b) of the Exchange Act, plus fiduciary-duty, waste, and unjust-enrichment claims. The Delaware cases centered on fiduciary-duty allegations, including insider-trading claims. One amended federal complaint filed in February 2025 added insider-selling allegations and claims tied to criminal and ethical violations. An amended Delaware complaint filed in May 2025 also added insider-trading allegations.
The document production underlying the cases was substantial. Acadia produced more than 800 pages in response to each of the Section 220 books-and-records demands in the Delaware cases, and later produced a separate securities document production that included confidential documents and deposition transcripts from the related securities class action. Plaintiffs also said one of the Delaware actions relied on more than 4,800 pages of public-records material.
The negotiations stretched over more than three years and included mediation sessions on Nov. 16, 2023, May 14, 2025, and Dec. 16, 2025. After the December mediation, the mediator proposed the $12 million figure, and the parties accepted it six days later. Following these announcements, the company's shares moved -2.49%, and are now trading at a price of $27.80. For more information, read the company's full 8-K submission here.
