Lawsuit Overview
March 24, 2021 - The court granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motion to dismiss.
June 22, 2020 - A motion to dismiss the second amended complaint was filed.
June 8, 2020 - A second amended complaint was filed.
January 10, 2020 - An amended complaint was filed.
August 8, 2019 - An investor in shares of Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE: EVH) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Evolent Health, Inc. in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between March 3, 2017 and May 28, 2019.
Arlington, VA based Evolent Health, Inc., through its subsidiary, Evolent Health LLC, provides health care delivery and payment solutions in the United States. Evolent Health, Inc. reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $434.95 million in 2017 to $627.06 million in 2018 and that its Net Loss declined from $60.66 million in 2017 to $52.65 million in 2018. By the end of 2018, Evolent Health, Inc had contractual relationships with over 35 operating partners. Many of these partners were either related parties, or companies in which Evolent had significant ownership or had provided financing at the onset of the relationship. Evolent's largest and most important partner was University Health Care, Inc., d/b/a Passport Health Plan, which represented 20% of the Company's revenues.
Then, on May 29, 2019, Evolent Health, Inc announced that it was buying a controlling interest in Passport, which was essentially a bailout of the financially distressed health plan. Evolent Health, Inc acquired Passport despite previously stating that it had no intention of buying Passport or any other health plans for the foreseeable future, and that acquiring health plans was not part of its strategic focus. In addition, Evolent Health, Inc admitted that University Health Care, Inc., d/b/a Passport Health Plan was performing poorly and was not being run or managed properly, despite paying massive management fees to Evolent for what was previously understood by investors to be an aligned relationship. Shares of Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE: EVH) declined from $29.05 per share in September 2018 to as low as $5.50 per share on August 7, 2019.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE: EVH) common shares between March 3, 2017 and May 28, 2019, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws.
More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between March 3, 2017 and May 28, 2019, the defendants mispresented and failed to disclose that Evolent's partnership model did not align the Company's interests with those of its partners, as the model was designed to inflate the Company's revenue by extracting enormous administrative and management fees at the expense of its operating partners such as Passport, that Passport was struggling financially, particularly after Kentucky cut its reimbursement rates, and the partnership between Evolent and University Health Care, Inc., d/b/a Passport Health Plan was becoming increasingly unsustainable, that Evolent was draining Passport of functions, employees and money, to such an extent that University Health Care, Inc., d/b/a Passport Health Plan was left on the verge of insolvency, that University Health Care, Inc., d/b/a Passport Health Plan t was conducting a bidding process for several months to sell itself to prevent liquidation, and that as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' public statements were materially false and/or misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.