Securities Accord Amounts Plummeted Last Year

Illustration by geralt (Pixabay)

Bringing a securities class action became less lucrative last year.

According to Cornerstone Research, total settlements in such cases hit their lowest point in 16 years.

The aggregate amount of settlements dropped 78 percent to $1.07 billion in 2014 from $4.85 billion in 2013. Last year’s figure is 84 percent below the average for the prior nine years, primarily because of a dearth of large cases, the legal consulting firm found.

The largest settlement in 2014 was for $265 million, compared with $2.5 billion in the prior year.

Last year’s top settlement stemmed from the ...