According to a new study conducted by researchers at the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, Federal securities class-action lawsuits are on the rise. Plaintiffs filed 327 suits in 2001, a sixty percent increase from the previous year. Typical settlements reached $25 million, up from the $8 million average seen in the early 1990s.

Researchers involved in the study say the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, an act designed to reduce the number of unnecessary suits, seems to have had little effect on the growth of stockholder class-action cases.