U.S. Securities Fraud Class Actions Against Non-U.S. Issuers: 2024 Developments

Introduction

In 2024, plaintiffs filed 36 securities class action lawsuits against non-U.S. issuers, up by three from the 33 filings in 2023. Although this number indicates an uptick in non-U.S. issuer filings, it remains significantly lower than the high of 88 filings in 2020.¹

• As was the case in 2023, 2022, and 2021, the Second Circuit unsurprisingly continues to be the jurisdiction of choice for plaintiffs bringing securities claims against non-U.S. issuers. In 2024, plaintiffs favored the Second Circuit by an even larger margin, filing 67% of non-U.S. issuer class actions in the Second Circuit (24 of 36), as compared with last year's 45% (15 of 33). A majority of these lawsuits (18 of 24) were filed in the Southern District of New York ("S.D.N.Y."), with the six remaining Second Circuit lawsuits filed in the Eastern District of New York ("E.D.N.Y."). Roughly 17% of the 36 lawsuits were filed in the Ninth Circuit (6), followed by three in the Third Circuit.