Published
November 10, 2026
Investors who bought or acquired Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ: ACHC) common stock between April 30, 2014 and November 15, 2018 were eligible to claim a pro rata share of the $179 million Acadia Healthcare securities class action settlement. Claims closed April 30, 2026, and the court granted final approval on April 29, 2026.
Current Status
Claims are closed. The deadline to file a Proof of Claim was April 30, 2026, by postmark or online submission. The court held the final approval hearing on April 29, 2026 and, according to Acadia’s November 4, 2026 quarterly report, granted final approval and dismissed the case with prejudice that day. No distribution date appears in the court notice or in Acadia’s report, and none had been located as of November 10, 2026. Payments go only to class members who filed a valid claim on time.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Final Approval Granted — Payments Pending
Approved April 29, 2026 · no distribution date announced
Claim Deadline
April 30, 2026
Passed · postmarked or submitted online
Estimated Payout
~$2.03 per share
Average per damaged share · before fees and costs
Proof Required
Yes
Brokerage records of each ACHC trade
What Changed Recently?
Acadia’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed November 4, 2026, reports that the court granted final approval of the $179 million settlement on April 29, 2026 and dismissed the action with prejudice. The same filing says $31.5 million of the settlement amount was reimbursed under Acadia’s insurance coverage during the first nine months of 2026.The settlement resolves St. Clair County Employees’ Retirement System v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., a securities fraud class action filed in 2018 in federal court in Nashville. Plaintiffs allege that Acadia and individual defendants who served as company officers made false or misleading statements during the class period about the quality of care and staffing at its behavioral health facilities, its compliance with laws and regulations, and the expected financial performance of its U.K. operations. Plaintiffs say those statements kept Acadia’s stock price artificially high. Acadia and the individual defendants deny all of the allegations and deny that the class suffered any damages.
The parties agreed to settle on November 7, 2025, eleven days before a scheduled jury trial. By then the court had denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss (January 2021), certified the class (September 2022) and denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment (October 2025).
Who Was in the Class?
The class is everyone who purchased or otherwise acquired Acadia Healthcare common stock from April 30, 2014 through November 15, 2018, inclusive.Excluded are Acadia, the individual defendants, members of their immediate families, any entity in which a defendant has a controlling interest, and their legal representatives, heirs, successors and assigns. Also excluded is anyone who asked to be excluded in response to the earlier notice of pendency, which went out on September 19, 2025. There was no second opt-out opportunity at the settlement stage.
Only Acadia common stock counts. Option contracts are not eligible, although shares bought or sold by exercising an option are treated as a stock trade on the exercise date at the exercise price.
How Much Will Claimants Get?
Plaintiffs estimated the average recovery at about $2.03 per damaged share. That figure comes before taxes, notice and administration costs, and the attorneys’ fees and expenses the court awards. It is an average across all eligible shares, so an individual claimant may receive more or less.Lead Counsel asked the court for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the settlement amount, expenses of up to $5.5 million, and interest on both. The lead plaintiffs could seek up to $65,000 in total for their time and expenses. All of that is paid out of the fund before anything is distributed.
What remains is split pro rata. The Plan of Allocation calculates a Recognized Loss for each eligible purchase, based on how much alleged inflation was in the stock price on the purchase date and on the sale date. The inflation figures in the plan range from $5.48 to $16.84 per share, depending on when the shares were bought, with the highest amounts assigned to purchases between February 24 and October 24, 2017. Shares still held after November 15, 2018 are measured against the stock’s average closing price during the 90 days that followed, which the plan puts at $28.83 per share.
Several limits apply. Trades are matched first-in, first-out. A claimant whose overall Acadia trading during the class period produced a gain gets nothing, and a Recognized Loss can never exceed the claimant’s actual market loss. Any payment that calculates to less than $10 is not issued. Each claimant’s share of the net fund equals their Recognized Loss divided by the total Recognized Losses of every accepted claim.
What Proof Was Required?
The Proof of Claim required documentation of every Acadia common stock transaction in the class period, such as broker confirmations or account statements, along with the claimant’s signature. The claims administrator uses those records to match purchases against sales and compute each Recognized Loss.What Was the Deadline?
Proofs of Claim had to be postmarked or submitted online by April 30, 2026. The notice gives no time of day or timezone. Objections and requests to speak at the hearing were due April 8, 2026.Where to Check a Claim
The filing window has closed. Case documents, including the notice and any distribution updates, are posted on the official Acadia Healthcare Securities Litigation website, which also has a contact page for claimants with questions about a claim they filed.What Happens Next?
Under the Plan of Allocation, the net fund is distributed after all claims are processed, the court has approved the settlement and any appeals are resolved. If money is left six months or more after the first distribution, from uncashed checks or tax refunds, the administrator redistributes it to claimants where that is economically feasible. Whatever cannot practically be redistributed goes to a non-sectarian nonprofit organization.No official distribution date had been announced in the sources reviewed for this page as of November 10, 2026.
A Separate, Later Acadia Securities Case Is Still Pending
The $179 million settlement does not cover anyone whose Acadia purchases fall outside 2014 to 2018. A second proposed securities class action, Kachrodia v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., No. 3:24-cv-01238, is pending in the same court. It was brought on behalf of people who bought or acquired Acadia’s publicly traded securities from February 8, 2020 through February 27, 2025. It alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act. On July 24, 2026, the court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and the case is proceeding. The allegations are unproven, no class has been certified and no settlement has been reached, so there is nothing to file.Acadia also reports a settlement of several shareholder derivative lawsuits tied to the earlier case. Those cases were brought on the company’s behalf, so that money goes to Acadia rather than to individual shareholders. The court preliminarily approved that settlement on September 1, 2026 and set a final approval hearing for December 10, 2026. Acadia says it received $12.0 million from the defendants’ insurers in September 2026 and paid $4.75 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses to the plaintiffs’ counsel in October 2026.
Sources
- Court-authorized Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action, dated January 15, 2026 (embedded below).
- The official Acadia Healthcare Securities Litigation settlement website.
- Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, Note 8 (Commitments and Contingencies), filed November 4, 2026.
Questions
Does the $179 million Acadia settlement cover shares bought after 2018?
The class covers only Acadia common stock bought or acquired from April 30, 2014 through November 15, 2018. Purchases of Acadia securities from February 8, 2020 through February 27, 2025 are the subject of a separate proposed class action, Kachrodia v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., No. 3:24-cv-01238 (M.D. Tenn.). A judge denied the motion to dismiss that case on July 24, 2026. No class has been certified and no settlement has been reached, so there is nothing to file in it.
Were Acadia stock options or other securities eligible?
Acadia common stock is the only security eligible under the Plan of Allocation. Option contracts are not eligible. Shares bought or sold by exercising an option count as a common stock transaction on the exercise date at the exercise price.
Do inherited or gifted Acadia shares count?
A gift or inheritance of Acadia stock during the class period is not treated as a purchase unless three conditions are all met: the donor or decedent bought the shares during the class period, no one else filed a claim for those shares, and the gift or assignment document specifically provides for the transfer of the claim.
Did Acadia admit wrongdoing?
No. Acadia and the individual defendants deny the allegations and deny that the class was damaged. They say they settled to end the cost and risk of a trial that was set to begin November 18, 2025. The court never ruled on whether the statements were false.
How much of the $179 million did insurance pay?
Acadia’s quarterly report for the period ended September 30, 2026 says $31.5 million of the $179 million was reimbursed under the company’s insurance coverage during the first nine months of 2026.
Official Settlement Notice
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Settlement Amount
$179,000,000
Case Title
St. Clair County Employees’ Retirement System v. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., et al.
Case Number
3:18-cv-00988
Court
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
Final Approval Hearing
April 29, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.
Final approval granted · Judge William L. Campbell, Jr.
Administrator
Verita Global (Gilardi & Co. LLC)
Official Website
Acadia Healthcare Securities Litigation
