November 5, 2021

Acuity Brands Class Action Headed for Settlement

2021 11 AYI headed for settlement class action acuity brands mississippi.jpg

The parties in the case have filed a joint motion indicating that they have agreed to a settlement in principle.

A class action lawsuit filed against Acuity Brands and three of its executives has reportedly reached a settlement in principle. A joint filing by all parties, Plaintiff-Appellee Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi and Defendants-Appellants Acuity Brands, Inc.; Vernon J. Nagel; Richard K. Reece; and Mark A. Black explains that the parties have executed a term sheet for settlement.

At the parties' request, the judge has ordered an abeyance as the parties finalize the proposed settlement in preparation to present it to the court for approval.

Background
In 2018 a class action lawsuit was initiated on behalf of purchasers of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) securities during the period between October 7, 2015 and April 3, 2017.

The complaint accuses the defendants of violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by virtue of the defendants’ alleged failure to disclose during the class period that known trends were negatively impacting sales of the company’s products and that the company’s ability to achieve profitable sales growth was overstated.

In August 2020, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, an important milestone was reached in the Acuity Brands case: the Judge certified the Class Action. Lead Plaintiff, Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi, was appointed as Class Representative and that the law firms of Labaton Sucharow LLP and Kessler, Topaz, Meltzer & Check LLP were appointed as Class Counsel.

In September 2020, Acuity Brands filed an appeal and the case has been in front of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit since then.

Any settlement reached between the parties will need to be reviewed and approved by the court before the case is closed.

NOTE: The author of this article, Al Uszynski, was an Acuity Brands shareholder during the Class Period, but is not currently a party to this Class Action. The author currently holds no stock of the company mentioned in this article and has no plans to initiate a position with the company in the next 15 days.