The plaintiffs’ bar must have been amazed when they opened the Wall Street Journal last week to find Senator Charles Schumer (D – N.Y.) suggesting that something needs to be done about frivolous securities class actions. In an op-ed (subscrip. req’d) written with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Schumer discusses ways to help New York’s financial services industry. Notably, the authors state that the litigation environment for corporations must be improved. Reuters has an article on all of this recent interest in securities litigation reform.
Quote of note (WSJ op-ed): “The total value of securities class-action lawsuits in the U.S. has skyrocketed in recent years, to $9.6 billion in 2005 from $150 million in 1997. The U.K. and other nations have laws that far more effectively discourage frivolous suits. It may be time to revisit the best way to reduce frivolous lawsuits without eliminating meritorious ones.”
The 10b-5 Daily 