Corporate & Securities Law

Securities class action trends 2008

By Werner R. Kranenburg

This week two reports were published, by NERA Economic Consulting and RiskMetrics Group, both covering securities class action litigation trends of the past year. NERA’s 2008 Trends in Securities Class Actions (report, press release) is its annual year-end study of US case filings and settlements. Securities Docket has a short overview of the report’s findings and additional details on the study from the two primary authors.

RiskMetrics’ Globalization in Securities Class Actions (registration required), authored by Adam T. Savett also of Securities Litigation Watch, is an update to last year’s paper Accountability Goes Global. It ‘explores recent trends in non-US investor interest in US Securities Class Actions.’ For instance, it finds that from 1996 through 2007 there were ‘234 different instances of an international [non-US] institutional investor seeking to serve as a lead plaintiff in a US securities class action’, in 134 different cases. And that ‘[i]n every year since 2002, international institutional investors have filed lead plaintiff motions in more than 5% of all new federal securities class actions.’

One thing you, regular WV&Z readers, are surely familiar with is the report’s latest reason explaining ‘the continued trend’ of non-US investor interest in US securities class actions: ‘The increasing availability and acceptance of securities litigation in non-US jurisdictions.’

Full post as published by With Vigour and Zeal on December 20, 2008 (boomark / email).