Class action security lawsuits are on the rise, with a large spike in federal litigation alleging disclosure violations in merger and acquisition transactions, according to a study by the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research.

The study revealed the number of lawsuits related to M&A transactions increased 471 percent.

The study also found that of all class action security suits in 2010, 15.4 percent of Standard & Poor's 500 healthcare companies were named defendants in a class action.

The Supreme Court won't stop the class-action certification of a lawsuit against Pella Corp. over a purported defect in one of its windows.

The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from the window-maker.

The lower courts have certified a class-action lawsuit against Pella. The lawsuit alleges that Pella's aluminum clad wood "Proline" casement windows have a design defect that allows water to seep behind the aluminum cladding. They claim that allows the wood to rot at an accelerated rate, and that Pella committed consumer fraud by not declaring publicly the role that the purported design flaw had in the rot.

But Pella fought the class-action certification, saying consumer fraud claims are inappropriate for class treatment.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Black has approved a previously disclosed $179 million settlement and entered a final judgment in a dispute between AK Steel and retirees at its Butler, Pa., steel plant.

The AK Steel retirees had filed a class-action lawsuit in June 2009 to stop the company from making changes to their health insurance benefits. It had started making retirees pay a portion of their premiums in January 2010.

West Chester-based AK Steel is the largest Dayton-area company, with more than $4 billion in revenue.

Under the terms of the settlement, AK Steel will continue to pay for the benefits through 2014 and also pay $91 million to two trusts to cover future benefits for hourly and salaries retirees.

In return, the company has been relieved of liability for any benefits after 2014, and the lawsuit was dismissed.

The major record labels have agreed to pay $45 million to settle claims they failed to pay songwriters and music publishers while including their works on compilation albums. Warner Music, EMI, Universal Music and Sony BMG were sued in 2008 in a class action by Canadian songwriters and music publishers.

Generally, labels had established a practice of including songs on compilations for which they had not yet secured proper rights, placing them on a "pending list" for later payment.

TorrentFreak noted that the pending list for unpaid tracks had reached 300,000 just in Canada.

In addition to the $45 million to be paid by the labels to artists, the proposed settlement "also establishes a new mechanism that will expedite future payments of mechanical royalties to music rights holders."

"This agreement with the four major labels resolves all outstanding pending list claims," said David Basskin, president and CEO the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).

A lawsuit that alleges the maker of Marlboro Lights used deceptive trade practices and false advertising when it marketed its cigarettes as "light" can proceed in Minnesota as a class-action claim, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The 45-page ruling by the three-judge panel sends the 2001 lawsuit against Philip Morris back to Hennepin County District Court.

The class would include people who bought Marlboro Lights in Minnesota for their personal use from 1972 through November 2004. The number of people in the class and the amount of damages they would seek was not immediately available Tuesday. The plaintiffs are seeking refunds of money they spent on the cigarettes.

In a statement, Philip Morris said it was considering its options for an appeal. The company said it believes class-action status is inappropriate because the circumstances of each smoker are different.

The district court denied the request for class certification in 2004, saying it was necessary to look at each person's reasons for smoking light cigarettes and the manner in which they smoked them. But later that year, the district court reversed itself and certified the class, saying that because the injury being claimed was economic, not physical, all class members suffered similar injury.

A federal judge granted class-action status to Netflix Inc. subscribers in their lawsuit against the company and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. over DVDs.

US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said that the subscribers bringing suit against the companies in 2009 were “united by common and overlapping issues of fact and law,’’ in an order dated Dec. 23 and filed in federal court in Oakland, Calif.

Wal-Mart and the plaintiffs reached a preliminary settlement of the lawsuit that could pay them as much as $40 million in cash or equivalents, according to a motion filed Dec. 14. A hearing on that motion will be Feb. 9. It doesn’t include Netflix.

The plaintiffs charged that Netflix and Wal-Mart conspired in 2005 to divide the market for selling and renting DVDs to reduce competition. The companies formed an agreement in which Wal-Mart.com would stop renting DVDs online and Netflix wouldn’t offer them for sale.

Town officials may file a class-action lawsuit against the state for what they say is inadequate funding of the district's special education program.

A task force reviewing Framingham structural deficit asked earlier this month for Town Manager Julian Suso and Superintendent Steven Hiersche to look into filing a lawsuit, Hiersche said yesterday.

"We haven't had time to talk about it," he said, adding he expected discussions to begin in the new year.

The task force said a potential lawsuit would be in response to the state's underfunding of the town's special education services. Like many towns, Framingham had its special education "circuit-breaker" reimbursement cut by the state last year, and Suso said Framingham historically has been underfunded in the state's education funding formula.

"The playing field is not level," he said.

Hierche said the lawsuit also could consider other recent cuts to local aid.

"(The Structural Deficit Review Task Force) is looking at a lot of things the state has backed away from," he said.

Suso said the aim of the lawsuit would be to make the state's funding formulas more equitable to Framingham, though there is no specific figure being sought at this time.