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Kevin M. LaCroix is an attorney and Executive Vice President, RT ProExec, a division of RT Specialty. RT ProExec is an insurance intermediary focused exclusively on management liability issues.

In recent posts discussing year-end trends, my observations included predictions that credit crisis related lawsuits would continue in 2009 and that increased levels of bank failures could lead to further "dead bank" litigation. As it turns out, 2009’s first-filed securities class action lawsuit appears to reflect both of these projected trends.

According to the

2008 was a remarkably eventful year, from the dramatic events that rocked the financial markets to the Presidential election that resulted in a change in national leadership. Virtually all of the significant events during 2008 also had an impact on the world of D&O insurance, one way or another. In all likelihood, significant developments will

As other commentators previously have noted (refer here), the pace of securities lawsuit filings increased significantly in 2008 compared to recent years. According to my tally, there were 224 new securities lawsuits filed in 2008. The 2008 total represents a 30% increase over the 172 securities lawsuits filed in 2007, and an 88% increase

THE TABLE OF CASES LINKED BELOW WAS LAST UPDATED ON September 28,  2010.

All signs are that the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme will produce a flood of litigation. By my count, there have already been at least seven federal securities class action lawsuits against Madoff, his firm, or the "feeder firms" that invested their clients’ funds with Madoff. There

UPDATE: A regularly updated list of all Madoff investor litigation, including in particular Madoff "feeder fund" litigation, can be accessed here.

As further proof that the losses associated with the Madoff fraud scheme will trigger a wave of litigation, on December 23, 2008, plaintiffs’ lawyers initiated a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York