IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jecfin/v41y2017i1d10.1007_s12197-015-9348-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Litigation risk and financial leverage

Author

Listed:
  • James Malm

    (College of Charleston)

  • Marcin Krolikowski

    (Providence College)

Abstract

In this paper, we use a unique hand-collected dataset on corporate litigation to examine the relationship between litigation risk and financial leverage. We find that an increase in litigation risk is associated with a significant decrease in total debt. Partitioning total debt into long-term debt and short-term debt, we find a negative relationship between litigation risk and long-term debt. There is no significant relationship between litigation risk and short-term debt.

Suggested Citation

  • James Malm & Marcin Krolikowski, 2017. "Litigation risk and financial leverage," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 180-194, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:41:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s12197-015-9348-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s12197-015-9348-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12197-015-9348-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12197-015-9348-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greg Niehaus & Greg Roth, 1999. "Insider Trading, Equity Issues and CEO Turnover in Firms Subject to Securities Class Actions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 28(4), Winter.
    2. Zhan Shu, Susan, 2000. "Auditor resignations: clientele effects and legal liability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 173-205, April.
    3. Utpal Bhattacharya & Neal Galpin & Bruce Haslem, 2007. "The Home Court Advantage in International Corporate Litigation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 625-660.
    4. Kim, Irene & Skinner, Douglas J., 2012. "Measuring securities litigation risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 290-310.
    5. Sanjai Bhagat & John Bizjak & Jeffrey L. Coles, 1998. "The Shareholder Wealth Implications of Corporate Lawsuits," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 27(4), Winter.
    6. Murphy, Deborah L. & Shrieves, Ronald E. & Tibbs, Samuel L., 2009. "Understanding the Penalties Associated with Corporate Misconduct: An Empirical Examination of Earnings and Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 55-83, February.
    7. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr, 1993. "The Reputational Penalty Firms Bear from Committing Criminal Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 757-802, October.
    8. Qingbo Yuan & Yunyan Zhang, 2015. "Do Banks Price Litigation Risk in Debt Contracting? Evidence from Class Action Lawsuits," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9-10), pages 1310-1340, November.
    9. Michael L. Lemmon & Michael R. Roberts & Jaime F. Zender, 2008. "Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross‐Section of Corporate Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1575-1608, August.
    10. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr, 1999. "On the Determinants and Importance of Punitive Damage Awards," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 527-573, April.
    11. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    12. Bizjak, John M & Coles, Jeffrey L, 1995. "The Effect of Private Antitrust Litigation on the Stock-Market Valuation of the Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 436-461, June.
    13. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Lee, D. Scott & Martin, Gerald S., 2008. "The Cost to Firms of Cooking the Books," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 581-611, September.
    14. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    15. Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-641, August.
    16. Francis, J & Philbrick, D & Schipper, K, 1994. "Shareholder Litigation And Corporate Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 137-164.
    17. Gande, Amar & Lewis, Craig M., 2009. "Shareholder-Initiated Class Action Lawsuits: Shareholder Wealth Effects and Industry Spillovers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 823-850, August.
    18. Romano, Roberta, 1991. "The Shareholder Suit: Litigation without Foundation?," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 55-87, Spring.
    19. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    20. Jarrell, Gregg & Peltzman, Sam, 1985. "The Impact of Product Recalls on the Wealth of Sellers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 512-536, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hemant Kushwaha & Sanjay Kumar Mishra & Manoj Kumar, 2023. "Management of litigation risk by Indian MSMEs," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 321-336, June.
    2. Qin, Jiaqi & Yang, Xue & He, Qing & Sun, Lingxia, 2021. "Litigation risk and cost of capital: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Malm, James & Soyeh, Kenneth W. & Kanuri, Srinidhi, 2023. "Litigation risk and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Malm, James & Adhikari, Hari P. & Krolikowski, Marcin W. & Sah, Nilesh B., 2021. "The old guard: CEO age and corporate litigation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    5. Omer Unsal & Blake Rayfield, 2020. "Corporate governance and employee treatment: evidence from takeover defenses," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(2), pages 361-391, April.
    6. Karol Marek Klimczak & Alejo José G. Sison & Maria Prats & Maximilian B. Torres, 2022. "How to Deter Financial Misconduct if Crime Pays?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 205-222, August.
    7. Ligon, James A. & Malm, James, 2018. "Litigation risk, financial distress, and the use of subsidiaries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 255-272.
    8. Omer Unsal & M. Kabir Hassan, 2020. "Employee lawsuits and capital structure," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 663-704, June.
    9. Duan, Ran, 2023. "Patent trolls and capital structure decisions in high-tech firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Unsal, Omer, 2019. "Employee relations and firm risk: Evidence from court rooms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-16.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James Malm & Srinidhi Kanuri, 2017. "Litigation risk and cash holdings," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 679-700, October.
    2. James Malm & Hari P. Adhikari & Marcin Krolikowski & Nilesh Sah, 2017. "Litigation risk and investment policy," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 829-840, October.
    3. Malm, James & Soyeh, Kenneth W. & Kanuri, Srinidhi, 2023. "Litigation risk and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Omer Unsal & M. Kabir Hassan, 2020. "Employee lawsuits and capital structure," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 663-704, June.
    5. Liu, Chelsea & Aharony, Joseph & Richardson, Grant & Yawson, Alfred, 2016. "Corporate litigation and changes in CEO reputation: Guidance from U.S. Federal Court lawsuits," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 15-34.
    6. Arena, Matteo P. & Ferris, Stephen P., 2018. "A global analysis of corporate litigation risk and costs," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 28-41.
    7. Dan Amiram & Zahn Bozanic & James D. Cox & Quentin Dupont & Jonathan M. Karpoff & Richard Sloan, 2018. "Financial reporting fraud and other forms of misconduct: a multidisciplinary review of the literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 732-783, June.
    8. Lin, Hsien-Ping & Walker, M. Mark & Wang, Yung-Jang, 2020. "Shareholder wealth effects of corporate fraud: Evidence from Taiwan’s securities investor and futures trader protection act," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 222-243.
    9. Malm, James & Adhikari, Hari P. & Krolikowski, Marcin W. & Sah, Nilesh B., 2021. "The old guard: CEO age and corporate litigation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    10. Nguyen, Nam H. & Phan, Hieu V. & Lee, Eunju, 2020. "Shareholder litigation rights and capital structure decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Autore, Don M. & Hutton, Irena & Peterson, David R. & Smith, Aimee Hoffmann, 2014. "The effect of securities litigation on external financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 231-250.
    12. Kubick, Thomas R. & Lockhart, G. Brandon & Mauer, David C., 2023. "Judge ideology and debt contracting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    13. Anna Abdulmanova & Stephen P. Ferris & Narayanan Jayaraman & Pratik Kothari, 2021. "The effect of investor attention on fraud discovery and value loss in securities class action litigation," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 513-552, September.
    14. Brada, Josef C. & Chen, Chunda & Jia, Jingyi & Kutan, Ali M. & Perez, M. Fabricio, 2022. "Value creation and value destruction in investor-state dispute arbitration," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    15. Aharony, Joseph & Liu, Chelsea & Yawson, Alfred, 2015. "Corporate litigation and executive turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 268-292.
    16. Hongling Guo & Zuoping Xiao, 2021. "Effect of severe litigation and bank connection on bank financing in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 3883-3914, September.
    17. Unsal, Omer & Brodmann, Jennifer, 2020. "The impact of employee relations on the reputation of the board of directors and CEO," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 372-388.
    18. Cline, Brandon N. & Walkling, Ralph A. & Yore, Adam S., 2018. "The consequences of managerial indiscretions: Sex, lies, and firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(2), pages 389-415.
    19. Flore, Christian & Kolaric, Sascha & Schiereck, Dirk, 2017. "Settlement agreement types of federal corporate prosecution in the U.S. and their impact on shareholder wealth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 145-158.
    20. Qingbo Yuan & Yunyan Zhang & Steven Cahan, 2016. "The real effects of corporate fraud: evidence from class action lawsuits," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(3), pages 879-911, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Litigation risk; Financial leverage; Debt maturity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:41:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s12197-015-9348-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.