Trends in Securities Litigation in Japan: 2009 Update
2 August 2010
By Makoto Ikeya and Satoru Kishitani
A new report from NERA finds that total damages from misstatements in Japanese securities litigation cases rose to a record 45.9 billion yen in 2009 from 9.9 billion yen in 2008. The 45.9 billion in 2009 is in fact larger than the aggregate amount of securities litigation damages determined by court decisions in Japan for the entire previous decade.
Co-authored by NERA Vice President Makoto Ikeya and Consultant Satoru Kishitani, the report reviews 300 "judgment cases" from 1998 to 2009 identified by NERA as securities litigation based on the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (formerly the Securities and Exchange Law). The report analyzes trends by items including type of litigation, industry, and damages amounts.
NERA finds that the average damage award per judgment, also a record high, reached 1.9 billion yen in 2009. While damages may have increased, the 14 judgments in litigation claiming damages from misstatements in 2009 remained essentially flat over the 15 judgments in 2008. Judgments in 2009 consisted of many large cases including Livedoor and Seibu Railway, in which most judgments were in favor of plaintiffs.
