The overall number of Delaware Chancery Court M&A lawsuit settlements increased in 2025, but aggregate, average, and median settlement values decreased during the year, according to a new report from Cornerstone Research. The report, which is entitled “M&A Litigation Settlements in the Delaware Court of Chancery: 2012-2025 Review & Analysis,” attributes the 2025 declines in settlement values to the number of SPAC merger-related lawsuit settlements during the year. Cornerstone Research’s September 23, 2026, press release about the report can be found here. The report itself can be found here.

The report is based on an analysis of a dataset of 143 Delaware Chancery Court M&A lawsuit settlements during the period 2012 through 2025. This dataset includes 25 settlements during 2025, the highest annual number of settlements during the analysis period.

While the number of settlements increased during 2025, the settlement values decreased. The aggregate annual settlement amount decreased in 2025, from a peak of $734.8 million in 2023 to $326.6 million in 2025. The 2025 aggregate settlement amount also represented a decline from the 2024 aggregate settlement amount of $635 million.

The average settlement amount in 2025 was $13.1 million, compared to a 2012-2024 annual average settlement amount of $39.9 million. The median settlement amount in 2025 was $10 million, compared to a 2012-2024 median settlement amount of $23.3 million. The 2025 median settlement amount of $10 million and the median settlement amount as a percentage of transaction value (0.5%) were the lowest in the period 2020-2025.

A significant factor in the decline of settlement values during 2025 is the number of settlements during the year involving Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). The majority of the 2025 settlements (17 out of 25) involved SPAC mergers, which collectively represented 53% of the aggregate total settlement value during the year.

The average and median settlement amounts in 2025 were the lowest during the analysis period, in part driven by relatively low settlement amounts in SPAC-related litigation. The average and median 2025 settlements in SPAC-related lawsuits were $10.1 million and $8.8 million, respectively, while for the non-SPAC related lawsuit settlements in 2025, the average and median settlement amounts were $19.4 million and $14.6 million, respectively.

The number of SPAC-related lawsuit settlements is also one of the reasons that the aggregate settlement amounts declined in 2025. The average Claimed Damages in the Chancery Court settlements in 2025 was $61.2 million, substantially lower than the average Claims Damages amount of $514.6 million in 2024. This substantial decline in average Claimed Damages is in part driven by the settlements of SPAC-related litigation. In 2025, 15 of the 21 settlements with available Claimed Damages information were related to SPAC transactions, which had an average Claimed Damages amount of $48.5 million, compared to the average Claimed Damages in lawsuits involving non-SPAC transactions of $92.9 million.

The report’s analysis of the Claimed Damages is significant from a statistical standpoint, as the analysis shows that there is a “positive and statistically significant correlation” between Claimed Damages and settlement amounts. At the same time, however, cases with higher Claimed Damages generally settle for a smaller percentage of Claimed Damages.

Average and median plaintiffs’ counsel fees in 2025 were the lowest in the analysis period. Average and median plaintiffs’ counsel fees in 2025 were $2.8 million and $1.9 million, respectively, compared to the 2012-2024 average and median fees of $9.9 million and $4.7 million, respectively. The decline in settlement amounts is one factor in the decline.  In plaintiffs’ counsel fees in 2025. Another factor is the decline in the percentage of the settlement amount plaintiffs’ counsel received in fees. In half of the 2025 settlements for which counsel fee information is available, plaintiffs’ counsel fees were below 20% of the settlement amount, whereas in the 2020-2024 period only 29% of the settlements involved plaintiffs’ counsel fees below 20%.

SPAC settlements tend to have lower plaintiffs’ counsel fees as a percentage of the settlement amount. In 2025, in 10 out of the 16 SPAC settlements (63% of SPAC settlements) with a known counsel fee amount, plaintiffs’ counsel fees were below 20% of the settlement amount, whereas during 2025 only 25% of non-SPAC settlements involved plaintiffs’ counsel fees below 20%.