Back in July, I pointed to findings from Cornerstone Research and Stanford University Law School showing that the number of securities class actions was falling, with suggestions that this represented a permanent shift.

But the jury is still out on that one, especially with findings from NERA Economic Consulting suggesting that shareholder class actions are on the rise. According to that piece of research, there were 136 cases filed during 2006; with 76 cases filed through the first half of 2007, marking a projected 12 per cent increase, and standard filings in the first half of 2007 jumped 47 per cent from the second half of 2006. They are now at their highest level since the second half of 2005.

The study also found that average corporation now faces a 6.4 per cent chance of being the target of at least one shareholder class action suit over a five-year period. That's down substantially from a few years ago, but it's still uncomfortably high. Also, more money is being paid out. Average settlements continue to rise. Excluding the top 10, average settlement values more than doubled in the 2002-2007 period to $23.2 million, compared with $11.5 million from 1996-2001. If you include the top 10, it comes out to $40.5 million and if you throw in the top settlements in 2006 and 2007 such as Tyco, the average number comes out to $100 million.

Clearly, this problem is not going away.