In 2004, the number of private securities class action cases filed in federal court increased to 203 from the 176 filed in 2003, according to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although the number is up slightly, it is down significantly from the peak of 245 cases filed in 1998, the year that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act was passed.
Those figures exclude research analyst and mutual funds cases; suits based on alleged analyst improprieties peaked at 46 in 2002, falling to 19 and 2003 and only one in 2004. Mutual fund cases hit the radar for the first time in 2003, when 16 were filed. That increased to 19 in 2004.
