M&A Lawsuits Skyrocket as Fee-Hungry Law Firms Smell Easy Money

Class-action lawsuits alleging boards of directors fell asleep on the job while signing off on buyouts have become nearly as ubiquitous in today's M&A world as bankers and second-guessers. Within five hours of announcing it reached a $2.8 billion leveraged buyout deal last month, for example, BJ's Wholesale (

) was greeted by five different law firm “investigations” into whether or not the company's board breached its fiduciary duties by not properly shopping for a better deal. The flurry of legal activity surrounding the BJ's deal is becoming par for the course. According to Securities Class Action Services, there were 341 M&A lawsuits filed last year in the U.S., up 78.5% from 2009 and an incredible 847% from 2008.

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