A US law firm that is suing computer maker Dell on behalf of pensioners in the West Midlands secured $7.4 billion (£3.8 billion) in settlements last year to take the top spot in a new list of America's most successful class action firms.

Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, a California-based firm run by class action pioneer William Lerach, settled 30 lawsuits worth a combined $7.4 billion last year, according to rankings compiled by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a shareholder information provider.

The firm was pushed into first place after settling a cluster of Enron-related lawsuits with several investment banks, including Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, worth a combined $6.6 billion. The vast majority of class action cases settle before going to trial.

The statistics do not include Lerach’s ongoing lawsuit against Dell, launched last year on behalf of the West Midlands Pension Fund, that accuses the computer maker of artificially inflating profits on the back of secret kickback payments. Dell has denied the allegation.

Lerach moved from third place in 2005 to take the number one position in the ISS rankings for 2006, a year when class action settlements reached a record high of more than $18 billion and that saw six of the ten largest settlements on record.

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman, a New York class action firm that topped the rankings in 2005, was second after settling nine lawsuits worth a combined $2.6 billion. Heins Mills & Olson settled $2.5 million worth of lawsuits to take third place.

The ISS study highlighted a growing trend for UK and European pension funds to join up with US investors to launch class action cases.

In addition to the West Midlands case against Dell other recent examples include a lawsuit brought by Hermes, a prominent UK pension fund, against investment banks accused of helping Parmalat to disguise its debt problems.

The Parmalat lawsuit, in which the Universities Superannuation Scheme, another UK fund, was also involved was partially settled for $50 million last year.

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