Like beauty, trends and conclusions in the securities class action world--even those based on hard statistics--always seem to be in the eye of the beholder. For instance, back in July 2010, I wrote here about two studies that came out within a few days of each other that could not agree on whether new case filing were "up sharply" or down 15%.

More recently, I saw the follow headlines about a week apart:

1. "Study Shows Benefits of Securities Class Actions" (January 7, 2011)

2. "Securities Class Actions Mostly Punish Shareholders, Study Finds" (November 30, 2010)

Sure, different studies can reasonably reach different conclusions about the benefits or harm of securities class actions ... but these articles are about the same study!!!  As the fellas say on ESPN's Monday Night Countdown, "C'Mon Man!"