U.S. News has this article entitled "It's Payback Time" about the challenges facing investors who wish to recover in securities class action settlements.  Referring to the massive, upcoming Enron settlement, the article quotes yours truly, as follows:

And there's still plenty of time to gather records to apply for some of the $7 billion set aside to repay Enron investors. That fund hasn't even started accepting applications yet. But get started soon, because collecting from the funds will take more effort than many investors spent deciding to buy the highflying stocks in the first place. Investors with mutual funds, even those in 401(k)'s or individual retirement accounts, should call their fund managers and remind them to collect what they are owed, says Bruce Carton, who runs an Institutional Shareholder Services division that helps firms get reimbursed.

In 2006, it is hard to believe that any mutual fund would still be leaving settlement money on the table (likely harming its own NAV in the process).  But with recent studies showing that as many as 70% of institutions fail to file such claims, that is almost certainly the case.