Securities lawsuit filings fell by 39 percent in the first quarter, according to a report by Advisen, which noted that several high-profile stockholder actions were dismissed as well.

The total of such suits in the first quarter was 174 compared to the record 294 that were filed during the comparable 2009 period, Advisen said in a quarterly report on securities litigation, sponsored by ACE.

However, corporate managements should not “let their guards down” against legal action because “regulators have increased the coordination of their efforts since the credit crisis,” cautioned the report, “Securities Suits Ease Back to Normal Following a Frantic Two Years.”

Thirty-three percent of the first-quarter filings were found to be “securities fraud” cases filed principally by regulators and law enforcement agencies.

Thirty-one percent of actions in the quarter involved breach of fiduciary duty suits largely filed in state courts, while 21 percent were securities class actions, the report said.

Advisen pointed out that class-action suits filed as a percentage of total securities suits filed have been steadily falling since 2004.

“The securities litigation landscape now looks more like it did prior to 2007, before the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market and the credit crisis sparked hundreds of lawsuits, largely against financial institutions,” commented John Molka III, the author of the report.

He said only one of the new filings was related to the credit crisis.

Additionally, only one suit filed during the quarter was triggered by the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Madoff-related litigation dominated securities lawsuit filings in the first quarter of 2009, Advisen noted.

Meanwhile, the New York-based research firm mentioned that a number of “closely watched” suits related to the credit crisis were dismissed in the quarter–among them suits filed against American International Group, Lehman Brothers, bond insurer MBIA and Merrill Lynch.

“While it remains to be seen whether credit crisis suits are dismissed at a higher than normal rate, judges appear reluctant to blame the results of the economic crisis on company management,” according to Advisen.

However, “not all motions to dismiss were successful during the first quarter, but a clear trend seems to be emerging,” according to David Bradford, executive vice president at Advisen.

Indeed, the Advisen report noted that of 348 credit-crisis-related securities cases filed, only 32 have been settled as of the end of the first quarter, while just 62 have been dismissed.

Despite the fact there were almost no credit crisis suits filed, financial firms were still named in 31 percent of new filings in the first quarter, the report said.

However, new filings were overall more widely spread throughout the economy and are expected to remain broadly diversified as bankruptcies and mergers and acquisitions spark new securities litigation, Advisen estimated.

The company said that as securities class-action suits have been reduced, breach of fiduciary duty cases have been growing. Most of the other securities cases involve actions over derivatives.

Among jurisdictions where securities suits are filed, in the first quarter the U.S. District Court in Manhattan was the favorite location to bring an action, Advisen reported.

Within businesses, after the financial sector, the area most targeted was listed in the report as “consumer discretionary,” referring to companies providing products or services that are not considered necessities, including automobiles, high-end clothing, restaurants, hotels and luxury goods.

The Advisen report–using a metric to measure potential damages due to class actions–found that the aggregate and average market capitalization losses have risen in recent years. That figure was $1.2 trillion in 2009, though down from $1.5 trillion in 2008.

For the first quarter, the average settled/awarded amount was $12.9 million–basically unchanged from the prior quarter, Advisen found. Class-action settlements averaged $26.3 million in the period.

Class actions, the report said, are seeing spiraling defense costs, with actions against large companies costing a minimum of $10 million to defend, and in some cases running in excess of $100 million.

In the future, the report said there may be more breach of fiduciary duty suits filed in state courts, where lawyers can shop for more sympathetic tribunals as well as avoiding higher pleading standards for class-action status.

Special Reports /

Securities Lawsuits Down 39 Percent, With Several High-Profile Cases Dismissed

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