Today NERA Economic Consulting released the 2009 update to their study, Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions.

According to the report, securities class action filings in Canada in 2009 continued to stay above historical average filings. The report notes that eight securities class actions were filed in 2009, compared with ten filings in 2008. As with recent reports discussing trends in US securities class action case filings, the "drop" from one year to the next is not the whole story, as 2009 is the second most active year ever for Canadian securities class action case filings.

Six new cases were filed in 2009 involving allegations of misrepresentations and/or omissions by issuers, including claims brought under the new continuous disclosure provisions. This is a new high both in absolute terms and in percentage terms (75%).

The report also notes a steep drop in the overall value of settlements achieved in 2009, with six cases settling 2009 for approximately $51 million versus eight cases totaling $890 million in settlements in 2008. According to the report, the average settlement for 2009 was $8.5 million and the median settlement was $9 million.

Of interest - the majority of cases filed in 2009 were brought in relation to securities issued by companies in the minerals and financial sectors. The report notes that this is both reflective of the composition of the Canadian economy and consistent with filing trends in prior years.

The trend of "belatedly filed" cases that has been discussed with respect to US cases also appears to have permeated north of the border, with 2 of the 8 cases (25% for you non-math majors) filed in 2009 having been filed nearly two years after the end of the proposed class period.

The full report can be downloaded here.