Director Ivelina Velikova and Associate Director, Securities Class Actions Database Svetlana Starykh contributed “Securities Class Actions in 2026: What the First Half Reveals” to the September edition of Engage Quarterly, Woodsford’s quarterly stewardship newsletter. Their update shows federal securities class action filings increased in the first half of 2026, with 118 new cases filed. At this pace, the number of filings will likely reach 236 by the end of the year, a 15% increase from 2025. The increase was driven in part by artificial intelligence (AI)-related and market-manipulation cases. There were 18 AI-related filings during the period, already exceeding the 17 cases filed during all of 2025 and representing close to one-sixth of all filings.
At the same time, the average settlement reached a decade high, at $54 million in the first half of 2026, 32% more than the 2025 inflation-adjusted average of $41 million. By contrast, the median remained unchanged from 2025, at $18 million after inflation adjustment. The increase in the average was driven by a small number of large settlements rather than a broad shift in the distribution of settlement values. Cases that settled took longer to resolve: The median time from filing to settlement increased to 3.7 years, up from 3.3 years in 2025, and the second longest over the past decade. Dismissals continued to outpace settlements and resolve faster. There were 96 standard federal securities class actions resolved, of which 56 were dismissed and 40 were settled, representing 58% and 42% of resolutions, respectively.
The growth in AI-related filings has not yet translated into substantial settlement activity. Of the 65 AI cases filed since 2022, most remain pending, 16 have been dismissed, and only four have settled.
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