Despite fewer securities class action settlements, the median settlement amount reached its highest level in nearly three decades last year, according to Cornerstone Research.
The median settlement was $17.3 million in 2025—marking a 20% increase from the previous year and the highest amount since 1997.
In its latest securities class action report, Cornerstone, an economic and financial consulting firm, attributed the rise in part to larger settlements in cases involving only claims under the Securities Act of 1933 (’33 Act).
“One factor that may explain these larger settlements is that these cases may have been unusually complex,” the report’s authors, Cornerstone Vice President Dr. Laarni T. Bulan and Principal Eric Tam, said in follow-up correspondence.
“The median number of docket entries for ’33 Act only cases—a proxy for the time and effort expended by the litigants and/or case complexity—reached an all-time high in 2025.” Their research has found that, all else equal, a higher number of docket entries is associated with a higher settlement amount.
Cornerstone reported that 74 securities class action settlements totaled $3 billion in 2025, down from 88 settlements totaling $3.8 billion in 2024. At the same time, the average value of “mega settlements”—those of $100 million or more—fell 33% year over year to $200 million.
But even though cases with only ’33 Act claims represented just 12% of settlements, their median settlement amount more than tripled year over year to a historic high of $32.5 million.
Bulan and Tam said Section 11 and Section 12(a)(2) of the ’33 Act allow investors to file suit for alleged misstatements and/or omissions in registration statements filed with the SEC in connection with securities offerings.
Investors can also file suit under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Securities class actions may involve only claims under Section 11 and/or Section 12 of the ’33 Act, only claims under Section 10(b) of the ’34 Act, or a combination of both.
In its report, Cornerstone noted that the smaller number of special purpose acquisition company-related settlements may also have contributed to the overall higher median settlement amount. Median and average settlement amounts for SPAC cases were “substantially smaller than the corresponding amounts for non-SPAC cases,” the report said.
Looking ahead, the authors said the lower number of settled cases may persist, citing relatively stable securities case filings in the first half of the decade and the high dismissal rate of COVID-19-related cases, which accounted for a large share of filings in 2022 and 2023.
However, several large settlements pending court approval could boost aggregate settlement dollars in 2026, the report said.
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