2022 Securities Litigation Year in Review
During 2022, securities case filings fell for the fourth consecutive year and were down slightly from 2021. The number of announced settlements rose substantially last year, as did total settlement amounts. The 2022 settlements include 10 mega-settlements of more than $100 million. Case filings involving COVID-19, SPACs, and cryptocurrencies represented nearly one third of all filings in 2022, and we address important developments relating to securities litigation in each of those sectors.
Our 2022 Securities Litigation Year in Review focuses on significant securities-related decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari in Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc. to resolve whether plaintiffs must plead and prove that they bought shares registered under the registration statement they claim is misleading. We also discuss the latest developments in the long-running Goldman Sachs securities litigation following last year's Supreme Court decision remanding the case and providing guidance as to how the lower courts should consider genericness in the price impact context. We analyze 12 decisions from the federal appellate courts addressing the pleading requirements for securities fraud cases and also explain a number of significant decisions related to forum-selection provisions decided in 2022.
