To continue with a theme regarding the scale of mass tort litigation, this post touches on the scale of what one can call “securities class action suits.” The numbers are set out in an open access January 2018 report by NERA, and a related January 29, 2018 commentary at the D&O Diary. Again, one needs to read the full articles to really appreciate the scale, and one needs to recall the class actions do not include myriad smaller scale securities claims filed each year, both in litigation and arbitration. However, one big picture statistic is set out below from the D&O commentary:
“According to the report, there were 432 securities suit filings in 2017, the highest number of filings since 2001 (when, largely due to a flood of IPO laddering cases, there were 508 suits filed). The 432 filings in 2017 were 84% higher than the trailing five-year average of 235 lawsuit filings.”