Impact of U.S. Class Action Lawsuits on Cross-Listed Foreign Companies

Abstract

This paper evaluates the short-term valuation impact of U.S. class action lawsuits by focusing on both sued and non-sued foreign companies listed in the United States. Using a comprehensive dataset that includes stock- and company-level information in both the U.S. and local home markets, we examine how private U.S. securities litigations affect the market value of both sued foreign companies and foreign issuers not accused of wrongdoing. We find that during the event period surrounding the lawsuit-filing date, there is a significant negative stock price reaction for the sued foreign companies. Moreover, investors also tend to react negatively towards non-sued foreign issuers during this period. The logistic regression results suggest that the determinants of lawsuit propensity are similar for foreign firms cross-listed in the U.S. and U.S. domestic companies. Finally, certain firm-, lawsuit-, and country-level characteristics can explain the degree of stock market reactions. The overall results provide evidence that private class action lawsuits in the U.S. have economically significant impact on cross-listed foreign issuers, thus playing an important role in overseeing and disciplining foreign companies.