Atlas Crest (Archer Aviation) Stockholder Settlement

Only original Atlas Crest SPAC holders qualify, not every Archer Aviation shareholder. The settlement resolves In re Archer Aviation Inc. Stockholder Litigation, Consol. C.A. No. 2024-0527-LWW, a case in the Delaware Court of Chancery over the September 2021 SPAC merger between Atlas Crest Investment Corp. and electric air-taxi developer Archer Aviation. The $15,000,000 headline is real, but the Archer Aviation name in the title is the most misleading part of it. First, eligibility turns on a single date in September 2021, not on owning Archer Aviation stock now. The Class is record and beneficial holders of Atlas Crest Class A common stock at the close of trading on the September 10, 2021 Redemption Deadline who did not redeem all of those shares before the merger closed on September 16, 2021. Buying Archer Aviation (ACHR) shares on the open market after that closing does not make you a Class Member. Second, the exclusion here is large, not a narrow carve-out. About 48.5% of the public Class A shares - 24,239,307 shares - were redeemed before the merger and are excluded from the loss calculation entirely, so roughly half of the original SPAC's public stockholder base will not qualify. Third, the payout is a single cumulative pro rata formula, not a pick-one benefit, and a hard $10.00 floor decides most small claims. A held-through share carries $6.19 plus a $0.10 nominal amount; a share sold below $10.00 before May 16, 2024 carries the shortfall plus $0.10; a share sold at $10.00 or more carries only $0.10. If a claimant's calculated distribution comes to less than $10.00, nothing is paid. Fourth, the 20% fee request caps only the attorneys' fee - not the whole fund. Separate litigation expenses and separate administration costs also come out of the $15,000,000 before the net fund is split pro rata. One more thing before you decide to ignore this: it is a non-opt-out class. You cannot exclude yourself, and if you file nothing you are still bound by the settlement and its releases. Claims are due January 4, 2027; objections must be received by November 17, 2026, and Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will hears the settlement on December 3, 2026.

Do I Qualify?

You may be eligible if:

• You held Atlas Crest Investment Corp. Class A common stock at the close of trading on September 10, 2021, the Redemption Deadline, either directly or through a broker
• AND you did not redeem all of those shares for the roughly $10.00 trust value before the merger closed on September 16, 2021. If you redeemed only some of your shares, the unredeemed portion still counts
• You are an heir, successor or other party who obtained the shares by operation of law
• Your calculated distribution clears the $10.00 minimum. Claims that calculate to less than $10.00 are dropped and paid nothing
• You file a valid claim online or postmarked by January 4, 2027. Filing is the only way to be paid - there is no automatic distribution
• It does NOT matter what state you live in. There is no residency requirement
• WHO DOES NOT QUALIFY: anyone whose only position is Archer Aviation (ACHR) stock bought on the open market after the September 16, 2021 merger closed. Current Archer ownership alone does not make you a Class Member
• ALSO DOES NOT QUALIFY, FOR THE REDEEMED PORTION: anyone who redeemed their Atlas Crest Class A shares before the merger. About 48.5% of the public Class A shares - 24,239,307 shares - were redeemed and are excluded from the loss calculation
• EXCLUDED BY THE CLASS DEFINITION: Kenneth Moelis, Michael Spellacy, Emanuel Pearlman, David Fox and Eileen Murray, their immediate families, any entity any of them controls, and their legal representatives, heirs, successors and assigns
• NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT OPT OUT. This is a non-opt-out class under Delaware Court of Chancery Rules 23(a), 23(b)(1) and 23(b)(2). A Class Member who never files is barred from the money but is still bound by the judgment and releases.

Proof is required, not optional. The Proof of Claim and Release asks for every Atlas Crest Class A share held at the close of the market on September 10, 2021, every purchase or sale of Atlas Crest or Archer Aviation stock from then through May 16, 2024, and any Archer Aviation shares still held at the close on May 16, 2024. Brokerage confirmation slips, account statements or equivalent documents showing those holdings and trades should be attached, and the claim form tells claimants who no longer have them to get copies from their broker - the holding dates back to 2021, so getting those records early is worth doing before the January 4, 2027 deadline. Institutional filers and nominees handling multiple accounts use a separate Institutional Claims Filing Portal rather than the individual portal.

What Happened?

Atlas Crest Investment Corp. was a special purpose acquisition company that went public in October 2020, selling $10.00 units to raise $500 million. Like other SPACs, it gave public stockholders a choice before any merger: redeem each share for its $10.00 cash value, or stay invested in the combined company. Atlas Crest agreed to merge with electric air-taxi developer Archer Aviation in February 2021, filed its definitive proxy statement in August 2021, and set the redemption deadline for September 10, 2021. Holders of 24,239,307 shares, about 48.5% of the public shares, chose to redeem. The merger closed on September 16, 2021, and Atlas Crest was renamed Archer Aviation Inc.

Stockholders who did not redeem sued in 2024 in the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleging that the Atlas Crest fiduciaries impaired the redemption decision by giving stockholders materially misleading information before the deadline, and asserting claims for breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment. In July 2025 the court granted the defense motions to dismiss in part, dismissing the claims against several defendants, including Archer Aviation itself - Archer is not a defendant and is not paying this settlement. The claims against five individual defendants continued until the settlement.

After a June 2026 mediation ended in a mediator's proposal, the parties signed a Stipulation of Settlement on August 10, 2026, and the Court entered a Scheduling Order on August 31, 2026 setting the current notice and hearing schedule. The five settling defendants - Kenneth Moelis, Michael Spellacy, Emanuel Pearlman, David Fox and Eileen Murray - will together pay $15,000,000 in cash. They have denied and continue to deny any wrongdoing, and the settlement is not an admission that any claim has merit.

JND Legal Administration is the court-appointed Settlement Administrator. Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will is scheduled to hold the settlement hearing on December 3, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. in the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center in Wilmington, Delaware; the Court may move the hearing to telephone or videoconference, or change the date, without further mailed notice.

How to File Your Claim

1. Confirm you held Atlas Crest Class A stock at the close of trading on September 10, 2021 and did not redeem all of it - if your only position is Archer Aviation (ACHR) stock bought after the September 16, 2021 merger, this settlement is not for you
2. File online through the Individual Claim Portal at the official administrator site, www.AtlasCrestStockholderLitigation.com, run by the court-appointed Settlement Administrator, JND Legal Administration
3. Institutions, claim preparers and filers handling multiple accounts use the separate Institutional Claims Filing Portal on the same site
4. Alternatively, download the printable Proof of Claim and Release from the File a Claim page, complete and sign it, and mail it to Atlas Crest Stockholder Litigation, c/o JND Legal Administration, P.O. Box 91241, Seattle, WA 98111
5. Attach brokerage confirmation slips, account statements or equivalent documents showing your Atlas Crest and Archer Aviation holdings and trades - the claim form says claimants who no longer have them should get copies from their broker
6. Submit online or mail your claim so it is legibly postmarked no later than January 4, 2027
7. a mailed claim postmarked by that date is treated as timely
8. Objecting is separate from claiming: a written objection must be received by November 17, 2026, and a notice of intent to appear at the December 3, 2026 hearing by November 18, 2026.
9. Visit the official claim form: https://www.atlascreststockholderlitigation.com/claim

How Much Will I Actually Get?

ONE BENEFIT, ONE FORMULA - there is no choice to make and nothing to trade away. Every approved claimant receives a pro rata share of the Net Settlement Fund, weighted by that claimant's calculated Total Loss, which is worked out per share held as of the September 10, 2021 Redemption Deadline: a share still held at the close of trading on May 16, 2024 carries $6.19 (the $10.00 redemption price minus Archer's $3.81 closing price that day) plus a $0.10 nominal amount, for $6.29 total; a share sold after September 10, 2021 and before the May 16, 2024 close for less than $10.00 carries $10.00 minus the sale price, plus the $0.10 nominal amount; a share sold for $10.00 or more carries only the $0.10 nominal amount. Shares that were redeemed before the merger carry nothing. THE $10.00 FLOOR IS THE NUMBER TO WATCH: if a claimant's calculated distribution comes to less than $10.00, no payment is made at all - it is a cutoff, not a smaller check. No per-share estimate has been published by the Court or the administrator, so the only way to know your number is to work the formula against your own trading records. THE 20% FEE REQUEST CAPS ONLY ONE OF THREE DEDUCTIONS FROM THE $15,000,000 GROSS FUND. Class counsel will request attorneys' fees of up to 20% of the fund, but that ceiling covers the fee component only - separate litigation expenses and separate administration costs also come out of the fund before the net amount is divided pro rata, so 20% is not a cap on the total deductions. No money reverts to the defendants: if the net fund exceeds the combined Total Losses claimed, the excess is redistributed to claimants, and uncashed checks are redistributed while $50,000 or more remains, with any smaller remainder going to the Delaware Combined Campaign for Justice. Payments will not go out until the Court approves the settlement and the plan of allocation and claims are processed; no payment date has been announced.

Last reviewed: October 17, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.

Frequently Asked Questions