Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, NEW LAWSUITS NEWS—NERA sees continuing rise in class actions resolutions, (Aug 1, 2025)
Economic research firm said that the 87 dismissals in the first half of 2025 are on pace to exceed the 124 seen in 2024.
National Economic Research Associates (NERA) released its mid-year report on trends in securities class actions on which it pointed out that class action resolutions are on pace to significantly increase over last year. The group found that 21 cases were resolved in the first half of 2025 with 87 dismissals and 34 settlements. At that pace, the number of resolved cases for 2025 would reach 242, which is 25 more than last year, NERA said.
The report examined the same data as the Cornerstone Research study on which Securities Regulation Dailyreported yesterday. NERA counted 108 federal securities class actions from January through June, while Cornerstone identified 114. Cornerstone predicted that 2025 class actions will be roughly on par with 2024, while NERA projected a slight decline for the year at current filing rates.
AI and crypto. NERA counted 13 AI-related claims in the first six months of the year and eight crypto-focused filings, compared to Cornerstone’s count of 12 and six, respectively. NERA found that COVID- and SPAC-related class action filings both declined this year relative to the first half of 2024.
Standard cases, which NERA defined as those containing alleged violations of Rule 10b-5, Section 11, and/or Section 12, comprised 99 of the first-half filings. Among standard cases, 44 percent included an allegation related to missed earnings guidance, according to NERA, and 33 percent included an allegation related to misled future performance. Both totals represent a slight increase over 2024 numbers, according to the report.
Settlement value. Along with an increase in dismissals, NERA determined that the average settlement value of $56 million represented a 27 percent rise relative to the 2024 inflation-adjusted average settlement value of $44 million. The median settlement value was $12.5 million, a $1.8 million decline from the 2024 median settlement value of $14.3 million, NERA stated.
NERA reported that the electronic technology and technology services sector and the healthcare technology and services sector together comprised 59 percent of new filings in the first half of 2025, up from 56 percent in 2024. The finance sector accounted for only seven percent of the class actions, the group said.
The Second and Ninth Circuits together accounted for 51 of the 99 non-merger-objection, non-crypto unregistered securities filings in the first half of 2025, NERA reported. There were 19 suits filed in the Third Circuit, already exceeding the 18 seen in all of 2024, the group found.
Non-U.S. companies. The NERA report indicates that the percentage of federal filings against foreign companies has continued to decline even as the percentage of foreign companies listed on U.S. exchanges has increased. In the first six months of the year, 12 percent of filings of standard cases were against foreign companies, compared to 27 percent of U.S. listings represented by foreign companies, NERA stated. Of the 12 standard filings against foreign companies so far this year, five have been against companies based in Europe and five have been against companies based in Canada, according to NERA.
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