$192.5 Million Settlement with Walgreens Approved by Court

A $192.5 million settlement in a securities fraud case against Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. received final approval from the court after nearly eight years of litigation. The case, a rare instance of a securities settlement paid by one company to the stockholders of a different company, was led by Rite Aid investors represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. The plaintiffs alleged that Walgreens made public statements misrepresenting the increasing risks of an FTC review of the merger between Walgreens and Rite Aid, which harmed Rite Aid investors when the truth became known and Rite Aid’s stock price plummeted.

The settlement is the largest securities class action recovery in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and second-largest such recovery in any Pennsylvania federal court.

In October 2015, the two companies announced Walgreens would acquire Rite Aid in a merger. Their attempts hit several then-undisclosed roadblocks with the FTC, including Walgreens’ struggles to find a suitable buyer for the Rite Aid stores that the FTC required Walgreens to divest as a condition of approval. As a result of those struggles with the FTC, Walgreens and Rite Aid ultimately terminated the merger in June 2017. Rite Aid later filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, partly as a result of its role in the national opioid epidemic.

Robbins Geller attorneys Randall J. Baron, David A. Knotts, and A. Rick Atwood, Jr. represented the lead plaintiffs litigating the securities fraud case on behalf of a class of Rite Aid investors.

About Robbins Geller

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex litigation firms, representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, antitrust, corporate takeover, and consumer fraud and privacy cases. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the world’s largest plaintiffs’ firms, and the Firm’s attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history.

The Firm is ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering more than $1.75 billion for investors in 2022 – the third year in a row Robbins Geller tops the list. And in those three years alone, Robbins Geller recovered nearly $5.3 billion for investors, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs’ firm. The Firm secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action settlement – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Securities Litigation.

For media inquiries, please contact media@rgrdlaw.com or call (619) 338-3821.

Chabot v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., No. 1:18-cv-02118-JPW (M.D. Pa.).