In yesterday’s column, we ran through some key takeaways from the latest annual tally of securities class action filings from Cornerstone Research. Today, as previously promised, we’ll chew on the Cornerstone numbers with a pair of practitioners from opposite sides of the securities bar: Jerry Silk of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Scott Musoff of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
First, a quick review of what jumped out in this year’s numbers: The overall volume of new filings ticked up slightly in 2023 to 215 from 208 in 2022—the first increase after three consecutive years of decline. This uptick occurred despite a slowdown in three significant lines of cases Cornerstone has tracked over the past few years: New filings involving claims tied to COVID and SPACs both fell by 39% last year and there were 50% fewer cryptocurrency cases than in 2022. Part of what was driving the overall increase, however, was an emerging line of nine cases that sprang out of last year’s regional bank failures, including eight new cases filed in 2023.
