Securities Class Actions Losing Steam?

Though the number of securities class actions filed in 2014 was little changed from the previous year, the size of filings as measured by alleged shareholder losses was much smaller, according to a new report by Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse. Cornerstone’s “maximum dollar index,” which measures intensity of lawsuits determined by how much plaintiffs may claim in damages, fell last year to its lowest level since 1997. For the first time in nearly 20 years, “there were no mega filings with investor losses of greater than $5 billion at disclosure,” Cornerstone’s senior vice president John Gould said. Experts believe the stock market surge has played a role.