The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, for example, drove an 82 percent jump in new suit filings against energy companies, according to New York-based Advisen, which reported that those suits were a primary driver of a 19 percent increase in securities suits across all industries.

Jim Blinn, an Advisen principal and moderator of a webinar showcasing results of the recent report, asked experts whether a different trend underlying the latest numbers--a low level of credit crisis suits in the quarter (just seven, with five naming Goldman Sachs in the wake of a suit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)--heralds good news to come for D&O insurance underwriters. "Or is there potentially a new catalyst" that might push suit levels up again, he asked.

Carol Zacharias, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at ACE North America in New York, pointed to an improving economy as one possible driver of securities suits fueling D&O claims.

"As we slowly climb out of the economic downturn, companies will necessarily engage in certain kinds activities that do present some liability exposures," she said, listing the following:

• A Bad news:
  "Some companies are going to have to disclose adverse financial results as they move forward, [and] some may go into bankruptcy," according to Ms. Zacharias.

"Shareholders will ask if this was done and disclosed in a timely fashion," she said, adding that bankruptcy exposes financially challenged companies to many more litigants--new boards, creditors and vendors, for example.

The FCPA is a federal law containing anti-bribery and accounting requirements. The anti-bribery provisions make it unlawful to pay a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, and firms are exposed to criminal and civil penalties for payments, or promises of payments, to foreign officials that could be considered bribes.