Bank of America Corp. and CVS Health Corp. are cited as two of the top defendants in joint lawsuits brought by state attorneys general since 2000, according to a new study that shows corporations have paid over $105 billion in penalties.

The report, "Bipartisan Corporate Crime Fighting by the States," is a compilation of multistage lawsuits filed by attorneys general of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It was published this week by the nonprofit group Good Jobs First, based in Washington, D.C.

It is believed to be the first compilation of such data since attorneys general became more active litigators beginning with the huge tobacco settlements in the late 1990s. The study does not include the most recent mega-suits involving opioid drug companies such as Purdue Pharma and big technology companies such as Google and Facebook, which are still pending.

The data show there have been 644 joint suits, primarily against Fortune 500 companies over alleged misconduct. In 243 of the multistate cases, the U.S. Department of Justice or another federal agency was also involved in the settlement and often led the negotiations.

BofA paid the most in cumulative penalties, totaling $26 billion, while CVS was the most frequent defendant with 14 different settlements totaling $215 million.

William Halldin, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based BofA, told Corporate Counsel on Thursday, "There's nothing new in the report, which simply highlights the well-known fact that we made substantial payments to resolve mortgage-related issues largely stemming from Countrywide and other acquisitions."

Rhode Island-based CVS Health did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Philip Mattera, co-author of the report and director of research for Good Jobs First, said he was surprised by the number of bipartisan, multistate cases. "It shows quite a significant history of states working together, especially in a bipartisan way."

Even while some Republican states attacked Obamacare or Democratic states attacked President Donald Trump's immigration policies, they still cooperated on suits against corporate misconduct, Mattera noted.

The data are just part of a massive corporate criminal and civil violation database being compiled by the group. It's called Violation Tracker and is available to the public.

Mattera said the goal was to create a comprehensive resource on corporate misconduct for lawyers, journalists, public officials and others who want to hold companies accountable.

He said corporations also use the database to check up on their competitors, and in-house counsel use it as part of due diligence during mergers and acquisitions.

Neither the report nor Violation Tracker makes any recommendations or editorializes in any way. "We want the database to be neutral," Mattera explained. "Just the facts."

The report states, "There is every reason to believe that the number of multistate AG settlements will continue to grow." So will the group's database, Mattera said, which is expanding to include class action lawsuits and state agency enforcement actions.

Funding for the study came from the Reva and David Logan Foundation.

Here are some other findings from the report:

  • The research team found 7,600 applicable cases brought by state attorneys general, but focused on the ones brought jointly by more than one state.
  • The states that most often take the lead position in these suits are New York and California.
  • In at least 260 cases, a majority of the states signed on as plaintiffs. In 172 cases, 40 or more states participated.
  • Because of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, the banking industry led the way as the most penalized offenders. BofAa's $26 billion in penalties was followed by the Swiss bank UBS at $11 billion, Citigroup Inc. at $8 billion, JPMorgan Chase & Co. at $6 billion. Then comes a nonbank company, BP, at $4.9 billion.