|  | | 2009 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Securities Suit Filings Rebound in Third Quarter
Kevin LaCroix
The D & O Diary. October 1, 2009
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EXCERPT: After a brief lull during the second quarter, securities class action lawsuit filings during the third quarter were closer to historical norms, although the filings levels did drop again during September. By my count, there were 49 new securities class action lawsuits during the third quarter. For reasons discussed below, my count could vary significantly from third quarter tallies that others may publish. But the 49 third quarter filings brings the year to date total through September 30, 2009 to which brings the year to date total of new securities class action lawsuit filings to 143. The annualized equivalent of the filings for the first nine months of 2009 projects to a twelve-month filing rate of 191, which is slightly below but still well within range of the average of 197.7 annual filings during the 13-year period between 1996 and 2008. After a decline in filings during April and May at the end of the second quarter, when there were monthly filing totals of 11 and six respectively, there were 20 new securities lawsuit filings in June. But the number dropped to 17 in July and only 12 in September. Clearly, the filing activity levels have fluctuated month to month so far during 2009. There may be any number of reasons for this fluctuation, but I continue to believe that the fluctuations are largely due to the fact that the plaintiffs’ lawyers are jammed up with the mass of lawsuits they filed over the last three years. As I have detailed at length elsewhere, many of the third quarter filings have proposed class period cutoffs well in the past, in some cases more than a year in the past. |
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