IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v67y2018icp255-272.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Litigation risk, financial distress, and the use of subsidiaries

Author

Listed:
  • Ligon, James A.
  • Malm, James

Abstract

Using a unique hand-collected dataset on corporate subsidiaries and lawsuits, we examine the relationship between litigation risk and subsidiary usage by large U.S. corporations. We find that firms, in general, tend to have a large number of subsidiaries when exposed to high litigation risk. We find that this tendency is strong in firms with relatively low financial position, while it is less pronounced in firms with relatively high financial position. High severity litigation risk matters more than low severity litigation risk. The results are consistent with the predictions of theoretical models and suggest an efficient link between litigation risk and subsidiary usage.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:67:y:2018:i:c:p:255-272
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2017.07.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976917302259
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2017.07.008?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. Tinic, Seha M, 1988. " Anatomy of Initial Public Offerings of Common Stock," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(4), pages 789-822, September.
    2. Hanley, Kathleen Weiss & Hoberg, Gerard, 2012. "Litigation risk, strategic disclosure and the underpricing of initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 235-254.
    3. Bruce Haslem, 2005. "Managerial Opportunism during Corporate Litigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 2013-2041, August.
    4. Dyreng, Scott D. & Lindsey, Bradley P. & Thornock, Jacob R., 2013. "Exploring the role Delaware plays as a domestic tax haven," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 751-772.
    5. Cummins, J David, 1988. " Risk-Based Premiums for Insurance Guaranty Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(4), pages 823-839, September.
    6. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    7. Subramaniam, Venkat & Tang, Tony T. & Yue, Heng & Zhou, Xin, 2011. "Firm structure and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 759-773, June.
    8. Kim, Irene & Skinner, Douglas J., 2012. "Measuring securities litigation risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 290-310.
    9. Jensen, Michael C. & Ruback, Richard S., 1983. "The market for corporate control : The scientific evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 5-50, April.
    10. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    11. Kolasinski, Adam C., 2009. "Subsidiary debt, capital structure and internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 327-343, November.
    12. Vladimir Atanasov & Vladimir Ivanov & Kate Litvak, 2012. "Does Reputation Limit Opportunistic Behavior in the VC Industry? Evidence from Litigation against VCs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2215-2246, December.
    13. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    14. Ronn, Ehud I & Verma, Avinash K, 1986. "Pricing Risk-Adjusted Deposit Insurance: An Option-Based Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(4), pages 871-895, September.
    15. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    16. Charles Kahn & Andrew Winton, 2004. "Moral Hazard and Optimal Subsidiary Structure for Financial Institutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2531-2575, December.
    17. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    18. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    19. 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.
    20. Keith D Brouthers, 2002. "Institutional, Cultural and Transaction Cost Influences on Entry Mode Choice and Performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(2), pages 203-221, June.
    21. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    22. Zmijewski, Me, 1984. "Methodological Issues Related To The Estimation Of Financial Distress Prediction Models," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22, pages 59-82.
    23. James A. Ligon & Paul D. Thistle, 2007. "The Organizational Structure of Insurance Companies: The Role of Heterogeneous Risks and Guaranty Funds," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(4), pages 851-862, December.
    24. Francis, J & Philbrick, D & Schipper, K, 1994. "Shareholder Litigation And Corporate Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 137-164.
    25. MacMinn, Richard D. & Brockett, Patrick L., 1995. "Corporate spin-offs as a value enhancing technique when faced with legal liability," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 63-68, April.
    26. Bradley, Michael & Chen, Dong, 2011. "Corporate governance and the cost of debt: Evidence from director limited liability and indemnification provisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 83-107, February.
    27. Todd A. Gormley & David A. Matsa, 2011. "Growing Out of Trouble? Corporate Responses to Liability Risk," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(8), pages 2781-2821.
    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. Malm, James & Soyeh, Kenneth W. & Kanuri, Srinidhi, 2023. "Litigation risk and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    2. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2022. "Does shareholder litigation risk promote or hinder corporate social responsibility? A quasi‐natural experiment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 657-674, May.
    3. 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).
    4. Wang, Qiming & Cheng, C.S Agnes & Lian, Qin & Liu, Cathy Zishang, 2022. "Law firm market share and securities class action litigation outcomes," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 596-609.
    5. Pat Akey & Ian Appel, 2021. "The Limits of Limited Liability: Evidence from Industrial Pollution," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(1), pages 5-55, February.
    6. 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. Assaf Eisdorfer & Amit Goyal & Alexei Zhdanov, 2018. "Distress Anomaly and Shareholder Risk: International Evidence," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 553-581, September.
    2. Chengru Hu & Wei Jiang, 2019. "Managerial risk incentives and accounting conservatism," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 781-813, April.
    3. Boubaker, Sabri & Cellier, Alexis & Manita, Riadh & Saeed, Asif, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce financial distress risk?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 835-851.
    4. George, Thomas J. & Hwang, Chuan-Yang, 2010. "A resolution of the distress risk and leverage puzzles in the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 56-79, April.
    5. Eisdorfer, Assaf & Giaccotto, Carmelo & White, Reilly, 2013. "Capital structure, executive compensation, and investment efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 549-562.
    6. Ming Fang & Rui Zhong, 2004. "Default Risk, Firm's Characteristics, and Risk Shifting," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2461, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Mar 2005.
    7. Chia-Ling Chao & Shwu-Min Horng, 2013. "Asset write-offs discretion and accruals management in Taiwan: the role of corporate governance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 41-74, January.
    8. Elizabeth Gutierrez & Jake Krupa & Miguel Minutti-Meza & Maria Vulcheva, 2020. "Do going concern opinions provide incremental information to predict corporate defaults?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1344-1381, December.
    9. Inder K. Khurana & Changjiang Wang, 2015. "Debt Maturity Structure and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1-2), pages 167-203, January.
    10. Andres, Christian & Cumming, Douglas & Karabiber, Timur & Schweizer, Denis, 2014. "Do markets anticipate capital structure decisions? — Feedback effects in equity liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 133-156.
    11. Meles, Antonio & Salerno, Dario & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo & Zhang, Jianing, 2023. "The influence of green innovation on default risk: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 692-710.
    12. Michael S. O'Doherty, 2012. "On the Conditional Risk and Performance of Financially Distressed Stocks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1502-1520, August.
    13. Chih‐Chun Chen & Chun‐Da Chen & Donald Lien, 2020. "Financial distress prediction model: The effects of corporate governance indicators," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(8), pages 1238-1252, December.
    14. Qizhi Tao & Zohaib Zahid & Azhar Mughal & Farrukh Shahzad, 2022. "Does operating leverage increase firm's profitability and bankruptcy risk? Evidence from China's entry into WTO," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 4705-4721, October.
    15. Bruyland, Evy & Lasfer, Meziane & De Maeseneire, Wouter & Song, Wei, 2019. "The performance of acquisitions by high default risk bidders," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 37-58.
    16. Elizabeth Demers & Philip Joos, 2007. "IPO Failure Risk," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 333-371, May.
    17. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Hedy Jiaying Huang & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Li Sun, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of financial distress: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 1023-1075, April.
    18. Huang, Hsing-Hua & Lee, Han-Hsing, 2013. "Product market competition and credit risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 324-340.
    19. Ferreira Filipe, Sara & Grammatikos, Theoharry & Michala, Dimitra, 2016. "Pricing default risk: The good, the bad, and the anomaly," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 190-213.
    20. John Y. Campbell & Jens Hilscher & Jan Szilagyi, 2008. "In Search of Distress Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2899-2939, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ownership structure; Parent-subsidiary; Litigation risk; Insolvency put;
    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
    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law

    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:eee:quaeco:v:67:y:2018:i:c:p:255-272. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    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.