The number of federal court securities class action lawsuit filings in the year’s first half reflected a filing pace that projects year-end numbers ahead of last year’s full-year totals.

According to my tally, there were 109 federal court securities class action lawsuit filings in the first six months of 2024. (Please note that the figures in this post do not include or discuss state court securities class action lawsuit filings.) The first-half filings, if annualized for the full twelve months of the year, suggest a year-end total number of filings of 218, ahead of the 213 securities suits filed in full-year 2023. But while the year-end projected number suggests a slight increase over 2023, it is worth noting that the 109 2024 first-half filings total was actually slightly behind the 114 filings in the first half of 2023.

Certain types of filings that contributed significantly to prior years’ filing levels remained as factors in the number of first-half 2024 filings. Thus, for example, there were seven COVID-related securities suit filings in the first half of 2024, compared to nine for the full year 2023. However, while there were 20 SPAC-related securities suit filings in the full year 2023, there were only five SPAC-related securities suit filings in the first six months of 2024. Securities suit filings against commercial banks contributed significantly to full-year 2023 filings levels, as there were 12 2023 securities suits filed against commercial banks, whereas in the first six months of 2024, there was only one securities suit filed against a commercial bank.

The securities suits filed in the first half of 2023 were filed against companies in a wide variety of industries. The first-half 2024 securities suits were filed against companies in 59 different SIC Code categories. The SIC Code category with the highest number of first-half 2024 securities suit filings was SIC Code Category 7372 (Prepackaged Software), with ten securities suit filings. There was a total of 18 securities suits filed against companies in SIC Code Group 737 (Computer Programming and Data Processing). The two SIC Code categories with the next highest number of first half securities suit filings, both with eight filings in the year’s first six months, were SIC Code Category 2834 (Pharmaceutical Preparations) and SIC Code Category 2836 (Biological Products). There was a total of 18 first-half securities suit filings against companies in SIC Code Group 283 (Drugs).

The first-half 2024 federal court securities class action lawsuit filings were filed in a number of different federal district courts; by my count, securities suits were first-filed in a total of 33 different federal courts during the year’s first half. The federal district court with the most first-filed securities class action lawsuits in the first half of 2024 was the Northern District of California, with 19, followed closely by the Southern District of New York, with 18. Overall, the California federal districts courts had 34 first-filed securities suit filings in the first half, while the New York district courts had 25. The two states’ district courts had a total of 59 first half securities suit filings, representing about 55% of all first-filed securities class action lawsuits.

In prior years, merger objection class action lawsuit filings were a significant factor in the overall annual number of securities suit filings. However, in the first six months of 2024, class action merger objection lawsuit filings were barely a factor; by my tally, there were a total of only two federal court merger objection lawsuit filings in the year’s first half. (Please note that the merger objection lawsuits are still being filed in significant numbers, but they are being filed as individual actions rather than class actions, and so do not show up in the class action lawsuit filings statistics.)

Of the 109 first half securities class action lawsuit filings, 16 involved non-U.S. defendant companies. The 16 suits against non-U.S. companies involved companies from ten different countries. The countries with the most first-half securities suit filings were Israel (4), China (3), and the United Kingdom (2). Among the countries with companies among the defendants sued in first-half securities suits are some unusual countries – unusual in the sense that companies from these countries are not frequent targets of U.S. securities class action lawsuits: Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

Consistent with the relatively low level of IPO activity since 2022, there were relatively few IPO-related securities class action lawsuits filed in the first half of 2024. By my count, there was a total of six IPO-related securities suits filed in the first half. The IPO companies named as defendants completed their IPOs in 2020 (one company); 2021 (three companies); and 2023 (two companies).