Prior to instituting any legal action in a Federal or State court on behalf of a 1 individual with mental illness, an eligible system, or a State agency or nonprofit organization which entered into a contract with an eligible system under section 10804(a) of this title, shall exhaust in a timely manner all administrative remedies where appropriate. If, in pursuing administrative remedies, the system, agency, or organization determines that any matter with respect to such individual will not be resolved within a reasonable time, the system, agency, or organization may pursue alternative remedies, including the initiation of a legal action.

Subsection (a) does not apply to any legal action instituted to prevent or eliminate imminent serious harm to a ¹ individual with mental illness.