This spring, the SEC will be holding a round-table discussion on shareholder litigation. Observers have been arguing for years that shareholder litigation is a burden to corporate America, putting our financial markets at a competitive disadvantage.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the class-action lawsuits being filed against Heelys Inc. (NASDAQ: HLYS):

I could swear securities lawyers have invented a sophisticated computer program capable of seeking out public companies to target with class-action lawsuits. A company reports a bad quarter, the stock tanks, and then for the next few weeks, press releases seem to come out daily announcing a class-action lawsuit "commenced ... on behalf of purchasers of ... stock issued pursuant or traceable to the false and misleading Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the Company's ... initial public stock offering.

While I certainly support the right of shareholders to collect damages in instances of real fraud, it seems that every time a stock price drops, multiple firms file lawsuits. These suits divert management's attention from the business and burn up resources on legal fees. All of this would be fine, except that these suits very rarely go anywhere. And even when they do, shareholders rarely collect anything.

I'm not sure what the solution to this situation is, or even if there is one, but it's an important issue for the SEC to be looking at.