NERA Economic Consulting has released a study entitled 2008 Trends in Securities Class Actions. The study reaches the following notable conclusions:
(1) There have been 255 securities class action filings this year (through Dec. 14), on pace for a 10-year high for “standard” cases.
(2) Credit crisis-related cases made up approximately 50% of the filings, causing a spike in the number of filings against financial sector companies.
(3) Median and average settlement values have held roughly steady at $7.5 million (median) and $29 million (average, excluding settlements over $1 billion).
The press release accompanying the report can be found here.
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