The global landscape of securities litigation is undergoing rapid change, according to a report issued Thursday by Dechert, Global Securities Litigation Trends.
America is still a leader in securities and collective litigation, but the volume and scale of settlements outside of North America is growing. Of the 25 largest non-U.S. settlements, 17 were in Australia, and the rest were in the U.K., the Netherlands, Japan and Israel.
In other countries, some of the change is due to the U.S. Supreme Court's pivotal 2010 Morrison decision limiting U.S. institutional investors' ability to sue foreign stock issuers in U.S. courts. That has sent shareholders to other countries that are now developing their own templates for accommodating those actions, said the report, which looks at evolving practices in the U.K., Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy and Japan, among other countries.
The law is also changing in the U.S., as plaintiffs find ways to adapt to a post-Morrison world.
More cases globally can be expected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as it affects companies and how they disclose their responses, the report by the law firm said.
Class or collective actions are also on the rise due to third-party litigation funders, it said, and, issuers risk duplicative litigation in multiple jurisdictions in the absence of universal jurisdiction.
