PricewaterhouseCoopers has released its annual review of securities class actions. The findings include:
(1) There were 163 filings in 2007, an increase of nearly 50% over the previous year. Subprime cases accounted for 37 of the filings.
(2) The number of filings associated with financial restatements was relatively small – 39 cases – suggesting that the “market reaction to restatements is declining.”
(3) The number of filings with some form of SEC involvement (investigation or enforcement action) fell for the third year in a row to just 24 cases (approximately 15% of total).
(4) There was a sharp increase in the number of filings against foreign private issuers, with 27 cases in 2007 (compared to 14 cases in 2006).
Quote of note: “During hard times, the increased pressure to produce good financial results is more likely to lead to bad behavior, which in turn is likely to result in higher levels of shareholder litigation. If current speculation on the downward direction of the economy is to be believed, then private securities class actions will most likely trend upward over the next few years, above the recent average number of filings since Sarbanes-Oxley.”
The 10b-5 Daily 