As recently noted by Kevin LaCroix over at The D&O Diary, new case filings are not only up dramatically from the artificially low levels that we saw in 2005 and 2006, they are in fact ABOVE historical levels.

But the numbers are even more striking than first reported. During the period from August 1, 2007 through October 31, 2007, there were at least 65 new federal securities class actions filed, and possibly as many as 68.

That translates into between 260 and 272 new federal securities class action filings per year.

Compared to the historical averages that have been reported by Stanford/Cornerstone (193 per year from 1996-2006) or PwC (218 per year from 2002-2006) that represents an annualized increase over historical levels of between 19 and 41%.

I hesitated to use an equivocation phrase such as "at least" in my figures, especially given that my research team is focused on rooting out securities class actions wherever they may be in the four corners of the world, but there is a rational reason for giving a range instead of a hard number.

Two of the cases, Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) and RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS), have companion "niche" cases that were brought on behalf of purchasers of only a specific type of securities. These types of cases are generally consolidated into the broader class action. Occasionally, but not always a lead plaintiff or class representative is appointed on behalf of the niche class. See generally In re Cendant Corp. Litig., 182 F.R.D. 144 (D.N.J. 1998) (appointing a separate lead plaintiff to represent PRIDES purchasers, but declining to appoint a separate lead plaintiff to represent options purchasers).

In the case of Countrywide, the niche case is on behalf of purchasers of Capital V Preferred Stock, and in the case of RAIT Financial, the niche case is on behalf of purchasers of Series A, B, and C Preferred Shares.

In any event, the return to historical levels of securities class action activity appears to have gone on for long enough to be a bona fide trend, and the death notice of the securities class action can safely be tucked away for now. If only we could do the same for buried notice...