This page provides an update on Cornerstone Research’s analysis of settlement outcomes for parallel derivative lawsuits, in which a shareholder derivative action features the same or similar allegations as a securities class action.
As shown in Cornerstone Research’s Securities Class Action Settlements—2024 Review and Analysis, 47% of securities class actions with settlement hearing dates between 2019 and 2024 had parallel derivative suits with similar claims. This research update incorporates more recent data to analyze the outcomes of 142 of these parallel derivative actions that have settled.
- 25% of derivative settlements included a monetary component other than plaintiff attorney fees (“monetary settlements”), while 75% included therapeutic provisions only (“non-monetary settlements”).
- Among monetary settlements, the median settlement amount for the derivative action was $9.2 million.
- The median plaintiff attorney fee award was $2.8 million across monetary settlements and approximately $760,000 across non-monetary settlements.
- Monetary settlements and attorney fees were larger in Delaware Court of Chancery cases than in other venues, which may be associated with differences in case characteristics, particularly the size of the related securities class action settlement.
- Monetary settlements were more commonly observed for cases featuring large settlements in the related securities class action, a corresponding SEC action, or corresponding criminal charges.
Please see Parallel Derivative Action Settlement Outcomes: 2023 Review and Analysis for additional detail on the sample, methodology, and assumptions.
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