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NERA Economic Consulting Releases Annual Canadian Securities Class Actions Trends Report; New Securities Class Action Filings Outpace Settlements
10 February 2015
Toronto—Filings of Canadian securities class actions continued at a steady pace in 2014, with eleven new securities class actions filed over the course of the year, equaling the number of new cases filed in 2013, according to NERA Economic Consulting's Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2014 Update.
NERA’s proprietary securities class action database now includes a total of 123 Canadian securities class actions filed over the 1997 to 2014 period. Sixty-eight of these class actions (55 percent) were filed within the last six years.
In 2014, each of the 11 new cases filed is a shareholder class action, continuing the trend of 2012 and 2013. Seven of these cases in 2014 involve securities listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and three issuers with securities listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). In total, 46 class actions have been filed against TSX-listed companies over the 2009 to 2014 period. This represents 3 percent of the average number of companies listed over that period, for an average annual litigation risk of 0.5 percent.
There were 10 new filings in 2014 that involved claims under the secondary market civil liability provisions of the provincial securities acts (“Statutory Secondary Market” cases). These 10 new Statutory Secondary Market cases are equal in number to the cases filed in 2013. In total, 63 Statutory Secondary Market cases have been filed since the statutory amendments first started coming into force at the end of 2005.
"2015 should be an interesting year for Canadian securities class actions," said Bradley A. Heys, NERA Vice President and Trends co-author. "The Supreme Court of Canada may hand down its decision in the Quebec case relating to Theratechnologies (which was argued in 2014), and, in early February, is set to hear appeals relating to the decision of the special five-judge panel of the OCA in the cases involving IMAX, CIBC, and Celestica. We will be watching to see how the decisions in those cases might impact on the future level of securities class actions."
Settlements
Six Canadian securities class actions were settled or tentatively settled in 2014, matching the total number of settlements in 2013 and double the number of settlements in 2012. Defendants in these six cases agreed to pay a total of $38.4 million, an average of $6.4. Five of the six settlements in 2014 were of Statutory Second Market cases, with defendants in those cases agreeing to pay an average of $5.7 million.
Active Cases
As of 31 December 2014, there were a record total of 60 unresolved securities class actions representing more than $35 billion in total claims.
Class Action Trends Series
NERA has been analyzing trends in securities class actions for more than 20 years. In addition to this Canada Trends report, the firm produces annual US and UK Trends studies. This year-end study was authored by NERA Economic Consulting Senior Vice President Mark L. Berenblut, Vice President Bradley A. Heys, and Consultant Jacob Dwhytie.
Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2014 Update may be downloaded from here: http://www.nera.com/publications/archive/2015/trends-in-canadian-securities-class-actions--2014-update--the-do.html
About NERA
NERA Economic Consulting (www.nera.com) is a global firm of experts dedicated to applying economic, finance, and quantitative principles to complex business and legal challenges. For more than six decades, we have been creating strategies, studies, reports, expert testimony, and policy recommendations for government authorities and the world’s leading law firms and corporations. We bring academic rigor, objectivity, and real-world industry experience to issues arising from competition, regulation, public policy, strategy, finance, and litigation.
NERA’s clients value our ability to apply and communicate state-of-the-art approaches clearly and convincingly, our commitment to deliver unbiased findings, and our reputation for quality and independence. Our clients rely on the integrity and skills of our unparalleled team of economists and other experts backed by the resources and reliability of one of the world’s largest economic consultancies. Continuing our legacy as the first international economic consultancy, NERA serves clients from major cities across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.