Filings of securities class actions hit record levels in 2018, with stronger cases on the docket and an increase in settlement values, according to NERA Economic Consulting's annual report, released on Tuesday.

There were 441 new filings of securities class actions in 2018, a slight increase from the year before, but the highest level since the 2000 dot-com crash, according to NERA's “Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2018 Full-Year Review.” Aggregate investor losses, defined by NERA as “the aggregate amount that investors lost from buying the defendant's stock,” totaled $939 billion, nearly four times the average during the past five years. That trend, the report concluded, could indicate a “systematic shift toward larger filings.”

“The primary takeaway is the size of new securities class actions, specifically, the size of what I refer to as the 'standard' case — the Rule 10b-5, section 11 and 12 cases. Those are much larger this year,” said Stefan Boettrich, co-author of the report and senior consultant at NERA Consulting, based in White Plains, New York. Part of that is due to massive shareholder cases against General Electric Co., whose shares dropped 56 percent in 2018. But not all can be attributed to GE. “Clearly, we're seeing a big jump in investor loss size in individual cases,” he said.

Many of the bigger cases made traditional securities allegations, like accounting or missed earnings. The technology sector saw a 70 percent uptick from 2017 in filings involving allegations missed earnings guidance.

The report also looked at settlements, whose values rose in 2018. The number of settlements was small when compared to dismissals, and the average deal value of $69 million, up from $25 million in 2017, was primarily due to the $3 billion agreement with Brazilian energy company Petrobras. But the median value of settlements in 2018, when excluding settlements of more than $1 billion, was $13 million — twice that of 2017.

“It very well be a consequence of stronger cases making their way through the system,” Boettrich said. He predicted large settlements would continue in 2019 given that pending cases now have a total investor loss of $1.4 trillion, or $1.1 trillion when excluding the GE cases.

As in 2017, merger objections made up about half the filings, spurred by the Delaware Court of Chancery's 2016 decision in In re Trulia Stockholder Litigation. That could mean merger objection filings have plateaued, Boettrich said.

The report also found that attorney fees were $790 million. That's 70 percent higher than in 2017 but, Boettrich noted, not that substantial when compared against the total value of all settlements last year, which was $5.3 billion.

Here are some more details of the 2018 report:

• Regulatory filings, such as those involving price fixing or emissions defeat devices, dropped 75 percent against foreign companies. Filings against Chinese firms rose, but those against European companies dropped.
• Excluding filings over merger objections, 64 percent of the new cases were in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Ninth Circuit, home to several technology firms. Merger objection filings were “increasingly active” in the Third Circuit, which includes Delaware.
• Settlements worth less than $10 million dropped from 61 percent in 2017 to 45 percent in 2018, with 44 percent of deals falling between $10 million and $49.9 million.