The new securities lawsuit filings related to the global credit crisis which had dominated that field of litigation over the past three years all but disappeared in the first quarter of 2010, according to Advisen Ltd.

The insurance analyst's latest quarterly report on securities litigation, which was sponsored by Ace, revealed that, overall, new securities lawsuit filings were down sharply.

Additionally, it found that several high profile credit crisis lawsuits had been dismissed during the quarter by judges unwilling to hold corporate directors and officers responsible for the effects of a worldwide financial crisis.

"The securities litigation landscape now looks more like it did prior to 2007, before the meltdown of the sub-prime mortgage market and the credit crisis sparked hundreds of lawsuits, largely against financial institutions," said John Molka, author of the report.

"The number of filings was down 39 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009, and only one of the new filings was related to the credit crisis."

Of the 178 first quarter filings, one third were "securities fraud" cases, filed principally by regulators and law enforcement agencies. Breach of fiduciary duty suits, largely filed in state courts, accounted for 31 percent of the total and securities class action suits comprised 21 percent of new securities suit filings.

The number of securities class action suits filed as a percentage of total securities suits filed has been steadily falling since 2004.

In addition to the near-disappearance of new suits related to the credit crisis, only one suit filed during the quarter was triggered by the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Madoff-related suits dominated securities lawsuit filings in the first quarter of 2009.

The first quarter also saw a number of closely watched credit crisis suits dismissed. Among the 13 credit crisis securities suits dismissed during the quarter were suits filed against American International Group, Lehman Brothers, bond insurer MBIA and Merrill Lynch. While it remains to be seen whether credit crisis suits are dismissed at a higher than normal rate, judges appear reluctant to blame the results of the economic crisis on company management.

"Not all motions to dismiss were successful during the first quarter, but a clear trend seems to be emerging," said Dave Bradford, Advisen executive vice-president. "Of the 348 credit crisis-related securities cases filed, 32 have been settled as of the end of Q1 2010, and 62 dismissed."

Although there were almost no credit crisis suits filed, fiAlthough there were almost no credit crisis suits filed, financial firms were nonetheless named in 31 percent of new filings in the first quarter. However, new filings were overall more widely spread throughout the economy, and are expected to remain broadly diversified as bankruptcies and mergers and acquisitions spark new securities litigation.