Professor Joseph Grundfest provides comment and research from the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse is noted in an article on the recent decline in class action suits.

The first half of the year saw 85 new federal securities class actions cases, according to a report from Cornerstone Research and the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse.

Although these lawsuits have become routine, the number filed represents a decrease from the second half of 2014, when 92 were filed. And the number is 10 percent below the semiannual average of 94 that occurred from 1997 to 2014.

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Joseph Grundfest, director of the clearinghouse and a former Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner, said a combination of factors may be contributing to the lower level of securities filings.

“Some observers point to high stock price valuations and the lack of volatility in equity markets,” he said in a statement accompanying the report. “Others point to the fact that many of the major accounting scandals now appear to be happening abroad.”

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