Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Investor2014]

A securities class action suit starts with a law firm filing a complaint on behalf of a plaintiff. Often other related cases are filed very early on unbeknownst to each other and uncoordinated.

The courts have a process to consolidate related cases under one court and judge where to the cases are consolidated.

From the date of the first complaint filed there is a 60 day deadline for filing a motion for lead plaintiff that includes arguments for why so and so movant will best represent the class of damaged investors.

In securities class action law the lead Plaintiff must meet a set of criteria that best represents all similarly situated investors.

One of these criteria is the size of the movants loss, but other criteria can weigh more such as say a professional pension/retirement system representing fiduciary responsibilities for their clients even if the loss in not the highest.

There may be several motions for lead plaintiff filed by several law firms on behalf of their movant(s) including for the initial filing plaintiff(s).

If the case isn’t dismissed prior to the 60 days lead plaintiff deadline, the court/judge will grant a motion or perhaps consolidate two or more motions as best representing the class.

The law firm(s) that wins the lead plaintiff position then litigates the case on behalf of all similarly situated.

About 50% to 60% of securities class action cases are dismissed and many before class certification. Out of the certified cases the vast majority are settled by agreement between the parties early on.

Late stage settlements tend to be much more expensive because more discoveries/evidence is dug out. Very few cases goes all the way to judgement.