It is frequently the case that securities class action lawsuits are accompanied by a parallel shareholder derivative lawsuit involving substantially similar allegations. But what happens to the derivative lawsuits when the related securities class action lawsuit is settled? An August 2025 study from Cornerstone Research analyzes the settlements of these parallel derivative lawsuits during the period 2019 through 2024. The Cornerstone Research report can be found here.

According to the Cornerstone Research report, of the 512 securities class action lawsuit settlements during the period 2019 to 2024, 243 (or 47%) involved parallel derivative actions. The report analyzes the settlements of 142 of these parallel derivative action settlements.

Of the 142 parallel derivative action settlements that the report analyzes, 35 (or 25%) involved monetary settlements (beyond payment of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees), while 107 (75%) involved non-monetary settlements (such as an agreement to adopt therapeutic measures).

Among the parallel derivative actions involving monetary settlements, the median settlement amount was approximately $9.2 million, while the median plaintiff fee awared in non-monetary settlements was about $760,000.

The figures are notably different for parallel derivative actions filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery. For starters, a higher percentage of Chancery Court parallel derivative suits involved monetary settlements than did non-Chancery Court parallel derivative actions (52.6% for Chancery Court actions, compared to only 20.3% for non-Chancery Court actions).

The median settlement amount for Chancery Court parallel derivative actions was also higher than for non-Chancery Court actions — $12.1 million for Chancery Court actions, compared to $6.7 million for non-Chancery Court actions.

The median plaintiff fee award was also higher for Chancery Court actions — $1.3 million for Chancery Court actions, compared to about $707,000 for non-Chancery Court actions. The report suggests that these differences between the Chancery Court actions and the non-Chancery Court actions “may be associated with differences in case characteristics, particularly the size of the related securities class action settlement.”

The report also considers the question of what case characteristics are associated with parallel derivative actions that result in monetary settlements. The report suggests that parallel derivative action settlements involving a monetary component are “more commonly observed” for cases involving larger settlements in the related securities class actions, a corresponding SEC action, or corresponding criminal charges.

For example, the median settlement class action settlement amount for parallel derivative actions that involved a monetary settlement was $33.7 million, compared to $11.7 million for parallel derivative actions that involved only a non-monetary parallel derivative action settlement.

Similarly, 22.9% of parallel derivative actions with monetary settlements involved cases with a corresponding SEC action, while only 12.3% of non-monetary parallel derivative action settlements involved a corresponding SEC action.

Similarly, 8.6% of parallel derivative actions with monetary settlements involved cases with corresponding criminal charges, while only 3.8% of non-monetary parallel derivative action settlements involved corresponding criminal charges.