With the winter Olympics going full swing in Canada, I thought I would look to how that country is dealing with securities class actions. NERA Economic Consulting just released their 2009 Update on Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions.
Some tidbits:
- Eight securities class actions were filed in 2009, compared with the 10 filings in 2008.
- There are now more than $14.7 billion in outstanding plaintiffs’ claims in Canadian securities class actions.
- In 2009, six cases settled for total payments of approximately $51 million
These are not big numbers compared to the securities class action activity in the United States. (Which is a good thing from the corporate perspective.) But this is still a new area for Canadian law.
Sources:
- Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2009 Update
- NERA Releases 2009 Canadian Securities Class Action Trends Study by Adam Savett for RiskMetrics Group Insight