Bill Ackman can’t escape Valeant lawsuit

Bill Ackman may have sold his stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals but he can’t kick the habit as lawsuits continue.

On Wednesday, California US District Judge David Carter permitted Allergan shareholders to pursue their case against Ackman’s Pershing Square and Valeant as a class. The shareholders say that they were cheated out of gains by selling their shares in 2014 while Pershing acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in Allergan to assist Valeant’s now-failed takeover bid of Allergan.

Last month Pershing and Valeant agreed to split $10 million in legal costs. Also as part of the agreement, Valeant agreed to pay 60 percent of any settlement, and Pershing agreed to fork over the rest.

Ackman announced on Monday that he completely exited his stake in Valeant after seeing his investment fall by more than 95 percent over two years and cost his fund an estimated $3 billion in losses.