This is an excerpt from Securities Class Action Settlements—2023 Review and Analysis.
- Plaintiffs filed 215 new securities class actions in federal and state courts in 2023, slightly more than in 2022 (208 filings).
- The combined number of federal Section 11 and state 1933 Act filings decreased 62% from 50 filings in 2022 to 19 filings in 2023.
The number of filings increased slightly despite a large decline in federal Section 11 and state 1933 Act filings.
- In 2023, core federal filings without Section 11 allegations, including Section 10(b)–only filings, increased 26% to 190 from 151 in 2022. This increase more than compensated for the large decline in Section 11 filings.
- The number of state court–only filings dropped from 11 in 2022 to two in 2023, an 82% decrease.
- Federal court–only filings made up 84% of federal Section 11 and state 1933 Act filings in 2023, the highest share in the last 10 years. This share has continued to increase from 66% in 2021 and 74% in 2022.
- Federal M&A filing activity remained low (six filings).
Figure 3: Federal Filings and State 1933 Act Filings by Venue
2014–2023
Source: Cornerstone Research and Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse; Bloomberg Law; Institutional Shareholder Services’ Securities Class Action Services (ISS’ SCAS)
Note: This figure presents combined federal and state data. Filings in federal courts may have parallel lawsuits filed in state courts. When parallel lawsuits are filed in different years, only the earlier filing is reflected in the figure above. Filings against the same company brought in different states without a filing brought in federal court are counted as unique state filings. As a result, this figure’s filing counts may not match those in Figures 4–9, 14, 16–21, 24, and 26–28, or Appendices 2–4 and 6–9. See Additional Notes to Figures for more detailed information and Counts and Totals Methodology.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Cornerstone Research.
