The following is an excerpt from a recently published ISS Securities Class Action Services white paper. Click here to download and read the full report.
Looking back at the full year of 2021, ISS Securities Class Action Services (“ISS SCAS”) verified 116 approved monetary class action settlements in the United States. These cases amounted to $3.51 billion of settlement funds available for distribution to eligible members of the settlement classes.
Thankfully, for investors, the wheels of justice continued to spin as U.S. Federal and State Courts remained flexible and surprisingly, seamlessly adapted to the new norms and remained adamant in performing its functions. Despite the continued decline in newly filed cases of investor complaints – in both Federal and State courts – the quantity of traditional class action settlements increased by 17.2 percent from 99 in 2020, while the settlement amounts increased by 7.6 percent from $3.26 billion in 2020.
Of the 116 U.S. settlements in 2021, 91 cases received judgment in the Federal Courts amounting to $3.06 billion, while 25 cases received judgment in the State Courts amounting to $453.1 million. The timing of settlements had ebbs and flows, as the first and third quarters of 2021 had 23 and 26 settlements, respectively, while the second and fourth quarters of 2021 had 34 and 33 settlements, respectively.
In terms of court locations, it’s not surprising that the most active Federal court was the U.S.D.C. New York (Southern) with 25 settlements, but interestingly only two of the ten largest settlements from 2021 occurred within the SDNY. The next most active locations were the U.S.D.C. New Jersey and U.S.D.C. California (Northern), tied with nine settlements each. In State court, the most active locations were the Delaware Chancery Court, which rendered judgment to ten settlements, followed by the New York Supreme Court (New York County) with five settlements.
Two of the settlements in 2021 delivered significant settlement amounts to be included within this Top 100 publication of largest U.S. settlements of all-time. These two class actions include:
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. – $1.21 Billion
- Snap, Inc. – $187.5 Million
As of this publication, with the addition of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 16 U.S. investor related class action settlements have now surpassed the $1 billion threshold.
Looking ahead, it appears likely that 2022 will once again deliver meaningful shareholder recoveries. A few 2022 high profile – nine-figure settlements – have already been announced and await formal court approval in the coming months. This includes… Twitter, Inc. ($809.5 million), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. ($420 million), Luckin Coffee, Inc. ($175 million), Granite Construction, Inc. ($129 million), Novo Nordisk A/S ($100 million), Stamps.com, Inc. ($100 million), and NCI Building Systems, Inc. ($100 million). At this time, both Twitter and Teva are at large enough values to enter next year’s Top 100 report.
By Jeff Lubitz, Executive Director, and Lloyd Flores, Vice President, ISS Securities Class Action Services,
