Methodology

Introduction

TopVerdict.com (“Top Verdict”) is an online journal dedicated to compiling and publishing annual lists of the largest financial recoveries (“case results”) obtained by U.S.-based attorneys/law firms on behalf of their clients, around the Nation.

The following set of rules is an updated methodology developed and adopted by Top Verdict in the year 2023, during which we will be accepting comments from the legal community, and may revise parts of the methodology accordingly, if deemed necessary. The revised methodology will take full effect in the year 2024. We reserve the right to update the methodology at any time, although reasonable effort will be made to ensure 1) maximum awareness and feedback by the legal community and 2) fair and flexible implementation of the updated rules.

Strategic objectives of the publication

The following are strategic objectives for Top Verdict, as a publication serving the needs of a professional industry, while being a self-sustaining private business organization:

  • Maximize the accuracy of generated informational products, by maximizing the:
    • Amount,
    • Relevance, and
    • Accuracy of data collected.
  • Develop a business model that will:
    • Offer fair and affordable ways for recognized attorneys and law firms to celebrate and utilize their recognitions by Top Verdict in their marketing efforts, and
    • Keep Top Verdict a profitable business, with sufficient annual resources to perpetually improve the quality of its products and services.

Maximizing the amount of data collected

We are committed to the goal of maximizing the amount of data we collect and analyze, by:

  • Motivating attorneys/law firms to report as many of their case results as possible, by:
    • Imposing:
      • NO FEE to report their case results.
      • NO LIMIT on the number of case result submissions.
      • NO FEE to be included to and published in a list.
      • NO LIMIT on the number of lists one can make.
    • Establishing convenient deadlines for reporting case results:
      • Deferring deadlines to as late as three to five months following the end of the year for which case results are being submitted.
      • Utilizing a soft deadline approach, whereby case result submissions are accepted even after an applicable deadline and considered for inclusion into lists that have not yet been finalized for publication.
    • Accepting case result reports through the following means:
      • Filling out a dedicated form on our website,
      • Uploading a report and supporting documentation via a dedicated form on our website,
      • Sending a report and supporting documentation to us by email.
    • Compiling and publishing lists for as many U.S. states and regions, as well as practice areas, as we can, given our finite resources.
  • Maintaining established and constantly seeking out new relationships with leading and emerging legal research providers.
  • Monitoring and following up on case results reported by the legal and traditional mass media, as well as professional blogs and law firm websites.

Maximizing the relevance and accuracy of data collected

We are committed to maximizing the relevance and accuracy of data collected, by constantly optimizing the:

  • Methodology,
  • Data intake process,
  • Post-intake data analysis.

Types of recoveries

The types of recoveries covered by the journal include:

  • Awards of damages:
    • Jury verdicts,
    • Bench (court or arbitration) awards
  • Settlements.
  • Total recoveries (coming soon).

Jury verdicts

By the term “jury verdict”, or simply “verdict”, we refer to the gross amount of damages awarded to the plaintiff(s) or counter-plaintiff(s) by a jury.

The amount above shall:

  • Include:
    • Compensatory, incidental, consequential, punitive, and liquidated damages.
    • Attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest (only if awarded by the jury as damages).
  • Exclude/disregard any operations performed by the judge after the jury’s rendering of the verdict, such as:
    • Reductions, due to:
      • Remittiturs,
      • Automatic damages caps,
      • Plaintiff’s comparative negligence,
      • Defendants’ or non-parties’ fault apportionments.
    • Additions, due to:
      • Additurs,
      • Automatic doubling/trebling,
      • Attorney fees, costs, and interest,
      • Punitive damages.

We will not accept the following types of verdicts:

  • Plaintiff verdicts where plaintiff’s comparative negligence was found to exceed 50%.
  • Defense verdicts.
  • Overruled verdicts by way of a:
    • Directed verdict*,
    • Judgement notwithstanding the verdict*,

* We will accept directed verdicts and judgements notwithstanding the verdict as bench awards. See the details below.

Bench awards

Beginning with year 2023, within the term “bench award”, we incorporate the following types of case results:

  • Arbitration awards,
  • Court awards, also including:
    • Directed verdicts,
    • Judgements notwithstanding the verdict,
    • Restitutions.

We rank bench awards by the gross amount of damages awarded to the plaintiff(s) or counter-plaintiff(s) by a judge/arbitrator.

The amount above shall:

  • Include:
    • Compensatory, incidental, consequential, punitive, and liquidated damages,
    • Attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest (only if awarded as damages).
  • Exclude/disregard any operations performed by the judge after awarding the damages, such as:
    • Reductions, due to:
      • Automatic damages caps,
      • Plaintiff’s comparative negligence,
      • Defendants’ or non-parties’ fault apportionments.
    • Additions, due to:
      • Automatic doubling/trebling,
      • Attorney fees, costs, and interest,
      • Punitive damages.

We will not accept the following types of awards:

  • Plaintiff awards where plaintiff’s comparative negligence was found to exceed 50%.
  • Defense awards.

Settlements

By the term “settlement”, we refer to the gross amount of cash payable by the settling defendant(s) to the plaintiff(s) or counter-plaintiff(s), as per an agreement between the opposing parties to resolve the dispute between them.

We will consider the following types of settlements:

  • Pre-suit, pre- and post-trial,
  • Public and confidential,
  • Direct and mediated,
  • High-low agreements (if came into effect),
  • Class action settlements.

Settlement amount may include:

  • Present and future payments to the plaintiff(s),
  • Attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest (only if part of the settlement).

We will not consider the non-monetary part of a settlement, no matter if it has an established market value or not.

Confidential Settlements

We accept and publish confidential settlements.

If a settlement had been clearly reported to us as confidential, even if required at the time of case reporting for verification purposes, we will never publish such details of the case as court and docket number.

As to the case name, we will publish it within the brackets of confidentiality requested by the reporter of the case. The degree of confidentiality applied to a case name may span from entirely generic to naming the leading plaintiff or defendant, not both. Below are some examples of such naming practices:

  • Plaintiff v. Defendant (maximal confidentiality applied: no names revealed),
  • Pedestrian v. Motorist (moderate confidentiality applied: no names revealed, but with a clue as to the roles of the parties in the underlying incident),
  • Estate of Patient v. Cardiologist (optimal confidentiality applied: no names revealed, but with a strong clue as to the roles of the parties in the underlying incident),
  • Smith v. Trucking Company (minimal confidentiality applied: only the name of the plaintiff revealed, but with a strong clue as to the role of the defendant in the underlying incident),
  • J.S. v. San Sebastian School District (minimal confidentiality applied: plaintiff’s initials and defendant’s name revealed).

We encourage those submitting confidential settlements to supply us with a disguised case name that will both meet the confidentiality restrictions imposed upon them and yet be descriptive enough, to make the case stand out from the rest on a list and for easier reference of their own.

We will not accept confidential settlements for consideration, where the:

  • Settlement amount may not be published, even under a disguised name,
  • Case types applicable to the settlement may not be published.

Documents supplied to support a report of a confidential settlement will not be published. We encourage you to supply redacted documents, if so necessary.

General guidelines

  • Each case result submission must be made for only one lawsuit (one docket number, if filed).
    • Recoveries obtained in two or more related lawsuits (with separate docket numbers) may not be combined and must be entered as separate case results, even if:
      • The cases are against the same defendant(s),
      • Associated with the same underlying incident,
      • Tried together.
  • Each case result submission must be made for only one case result type. Jury verdicts, bench awards, and settlements may not be combined, even if they were obtained:
    • On behalf of the same plaintiff(s),
    • In the same year.
  • The date of each case result must be entered as is, irrespective of the dates of other recoveries in the case or of the final judgement. However, if two or more settlements were obtained in the same case (same docket number) within the same year, report the total of these settlements under the date of the most recent of the settlements.
  • Each case result submission must be supported by relevant documentation, including jury verdict sheet, order/decision/judgement, settlement release (can be redacted), as applicable. If documentation cannot be provided for some reason, we ask that you explain the reason and supply alternative verification methods.

Conclusion

We would highly appreciate your feedback with respect to the methodology presented above. Please feel free to use the form below, to share your thoughts with us. Thank you in advance!

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