Settlements Plummet; Dismissals Down Even More1
The Steady Stream of Filings Has Continued Throughout 2012
The steady stream of federal securities class actions has
continued unabated throughout 2012.2 Through the end of
November, 195 securities class actions were filed in federal
courts—a pace that, if continued through December, would lead
to a total of 213 cases for the full year. (See Figure 1.) This
would put 2012 filings just slightly below their average rate over
the previous five years.
It is noteworthy that this level of filings has been maintained
even though cases related to the credit crisis, which had been
prominent in recent years, have all but ended.3 For
example, of the 208 filings in 2009, 59 were related to the credit
crisis; by contrast, only four cases of the 195 filed through
November of this year involved such allegations. While the decline
in credit crisis cases itself is not surprising, it is notable that
this decline has not
