In the last edition, the ISS Securities Class Action Services, LLC, Top 100 Settlements for 2H 2013 closed with the addition of 14 settlements with a total settlement value of $8.1 billion in 2013. Of the total, 89 percent stemmed from allegations of violations of Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices while 98 percent of the settlements were filed in Federal Courts.

ISS Securities Class Action Services, LLC Top 100 Settlements Report for 1H 2014 found the total settlement volume for the first half of 2014 was 4 percent lower compared with the same period in 2013, when ISS Securities Class Action Services tracked 53 agreements. Only two settlements thus far in 2014 rank within the Securities Class Action Top 100 list; namely, Massey Energy Company (“Massey”), and a partial settlement from Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) in regard to the Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (Equity/Debt Securities) (“Lehman”) Action initiated in 2008. Still, these approved settlements tallied an impressive $359 million in disbursable funds. Massey, a West Virginia-based miner, closed in the middle of the list with a $260 million settlement fund while E&Y added another $ 120 million to its 2013 total settlement fund. The Securities Class Action Services Tentative Settlement Pipeline stands at $17 billion as of August 2014.