Securities Class Action Services’ Top 100 List Includes 12 Settlements from 2015

ROCKVILLE, MD. (February 29, 2016) – 2015 saw six of the 50 largest approved class action settlements since passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, according to a new report released today by Securities Class Action Services, a subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services.

The “Top 100 Class Action Settlements Semi-Annual Report” also noted that 12 settlements from 2015 made the top 100 list. Below is a list of those 12 class action settlements for 2015, ranked by the total value of the settlement fund with recovery amount denoted parenthetically.

  1. American International Group, Inc. ($970,500,000)
  2. Bear Stearns (Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates) ($500,000,000)
  3. Pfizer, Inc. ($400,000,000)
  4. J.P. Morgan Acceptance Corp. I (MPTC) ($388,000,000)
  5. RALI Mortgage (Asset-Backed Pass-Through Certificates)    ($335,000,000)
  6. Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors, Inc. (MPTC) ($315,000,000)
  7. 3Com Corp. ($259,000,000)
  8. MF Global Holdings Ltd. ($204,432,828)
  9. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC ($180,250,000)
  10. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation ($180,000,000)
  11. Schering-Plough Corp. ($165,000,000)
  12. Duke Energy Corporation ($146,250,000)

Among the top 100 class actions tracked by Securities Class Action Services, 2015 ranked sixth all time with a total settlement value of just over $4 billion amongst those 12 settlements.

“We expect last year’s trend of large settlements to continue in 2016, with nearly $800 million  in the books from just three class actions already approved this year,” said Andy Cottrell, Head of Class Action Client Service. “Moreover, we’re forecasting for 2016 an uptick in settlements outside North America, which we believe will mark the start of an upward spiral in global class action settlements.”

The Top 100 Class Action Settlements Semi-Annual Report identifies the largest securities class action settlements approved since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, ranked by total value of the settlement fund.  Charts and graphs break down the settlement data in areas such as identity of institutional lead plaintiff, institutional lead plaintiff participation, most frequent lead counsel, lead counsel participation, most frequent claims administrator, claims administrator participation, restatements, the number of settlements that were added to Securities Class Action Services’ top 30 SEC disgorgements, and the top 30 SEC disgorgements.

To download a copy of the report and for further information on Securities Class Action Services, please visit ISS’ website at http://www.issgovernance.com/scas.

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