The number of securities class action lawsuit filings was up slightly in 2013 compared to 2012, although the 2013 filings remained well below historical averages. While securities litigation picked up in 2013 compared to the year before, the more interesting question going forward is what the impact of the Halliburton case now pending before the
securities class action litigation
Now Trending: Initial Public Offerings and IPO-Related Securities Suits
Led by Twitter’s successful offering earlier this year, IPO activity in the U.S. during 2013 has been at its highest levels since 2007. While the listing activity seems to bode well for the general economy as well as for the financial markets, the increased number of IPOs has also led to an uptick in IPO-related…
Cornerstone Research Releases Securities Suit Opt-Outs Study
On November 19, 2013, Cornerstone Research, in conjunction with the Latham & Watkins law firm, released a report analyzing securities suit opt-out cases. The report, entitled “Opt-Out Cases in Securities Class Action Settlements,” and which can be found here, takes a comprehensive look at cases in which individual class members have opted out of…
Is the “Fraud on the Market Theory” About to Get Dumped?
A petition for a writ of certiorari filed last month in the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with the long-running Halliburton securities class action lawsuit – which has been up to the Supreme Court once already – takes aim at one of the critical components in the securities plaintiffs’ tool kit: the “fraud on the…
Guest Post: Second Circuit Holds that American Pipe Tolling Does Not Apply to the Securities Act’s Statute of Repose
An important recurring issue is the questions whether the prior filing of a securities class action lawsuit tolls the applicable statute of repose under the federal securities laws. In an important June 27, 2013, the Second Circuit issued an important decision on this question, holding that the tolling doctrine does not apply to three-year statue…
First Half Securities Suit Filings Level With Last Year’s Pace
Buoyed by an influx of case filings in the final days of June, securities class action lawsuit filings during the first half of 2013 remained roughly on pace with 2012 filings, although well below the historical average number of filings. Though the absolute numbers of filings so far this year are below historical averages, the number of…
Guest Post: Some Data on the Outcomes of Securities Class Actions and SEC Enforcement Actions
In recent years, Stanford Law School Professor Michael Klausner has led research on several critical issues involved with class action securiteis litigation and SEC enforcement actions.In the guest post below, Professor Klausner and his colleague Jason Hegland describe the two databases they have built in support of their research efforts and detail some additional findings…
Advisen Reports on First Quarter 2013 Corporate and Securities Litigation
During the first quarter of 2013, new corporate and securities lawsuits and regulatory enforcement actions increased slightly compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 but remained well below annual averages over the last two years, according to a new report from Advisen, the insurance information firm. The April 2013 report, which can be found here…
Tracking the Timing and Size of Securities Lawsuit Settlements
What are the factors that affect the timing of securities class action lawsuit dismissals and that affect the timing and size of securities suit settlements? These are the questions examined in an April 2012 PLUS Journal article entitled “When Are Securities Class Actions Dismissed, When Do They Settle and For How Much? An Update” (…
Countywide MBS Securities Suit Settles for $500 Million
In what is the largest settlement so far of an mortgage-backed securities class action lawsuit filed as part of the subprime and credit-crisis securities litigation wave, the parties to the consolidated Countrywide mortgage-backed securities suit pending in the Central District of California have agreed to settle the litigation for $500 million. The settlement is subject…