Legal Research Sources

Every statistic, statute, and verdict on Settlement Insight traces back to a public, authoritative source. This page lists every source we use — and gives you direct links to research your case independently.

Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated May 15, 2026

Federal Settlement & Judgment Data

Our most-cited primary sources for aggregated settlement records.

National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Public Use Data File

Federal database of medical malpractice payment reports and adverse actions since 1990. Maintained by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Our 530K-record med-mal research is built on this dataset.

https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov/resources/publicData.jsp

U.S. Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service — Judgment Fund Payment Search

Public transparency portal for all federal government settlement and judgment payments. We analyzed 113,969 payments fiscal years 2008-2025 totaling $59.9 billion.

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/judgment-fund/

FOIAonline / FOIA.gov

Federal Freedom of Information Act portal — request settlement data from federal agencies not in the Judgment Fund database.

https://www.foia.gov/

State Workers' Compensation Boards

Where each state publishes benefit rates, claim forms, and dispute procedures.

New York State Workers' Compensation Board

5.5M+ claim records analyzed in our research. Forms, benefit rates, and dispute procedures for NY workers' comp claims.

https://www.wcb.ny.gov/

California Department of Industrial Relations — DWC

California Division of Workers' Compensation. SIBTF, supplemental benefits, dispute resolution, panel QMEs.

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/

Texas Department of Insurance — Division of Workers' Compensation

Texas is the only state where employers can legally opt out. TDI-DWC handles claims for subscribers; non-subscriber suits go to tort court.

https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/

Florida Division of Workers' Compensation

Florida benefit rates, mediation procedures, forms, healthcare provider rules.

https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/wc

Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry — Workers' Comp

PA WC: claim filing, max weekly rates, judges office.

https://www.dli.pa.gov/Businesses/Compensation/WC/

Court Records & Litigation Data

Where individual case filings, dockets, and verdicts live.

PACER — Federal Court Records

All U.S. federal court filings — MDL records, federal product-liability cases, civil rights, FTCA. Pay-per-page but free for 50% (PACER fee waiver for academic research).

https://pacer.uscourts.gov/

JPML — Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation

Active MDL list — Roundup MDL 2741, talc MDL 2738, hernia mesh MDL 2782, etc. Use this to find your case's MDL.

https://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/

Bloomberg Law / Westlaw / Lexis (paid)

Comprehensive case-law and docket research. Paid but accessible via most law libraries free for the public.

https://www.bloomberglaw.com/

Municipal Settlement Databases

Major cities that publish their settlement payouts as public records.

NYC Open Data — Settlements

NYC Law Department settlements (police misconduct + car accidents) — 43,000+ records totaling $2.8B. Our research analyzes the full set.

https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/

Chicago Data Portal

Chicago police misconduct settlements — 4,974 records totaling $1.15B in our analysis.

https://data.cityofchicago.org/

Los Angeles Open Data

LAPD and city settlement data, claims, and judgments.

https://data.lacity.org/

Philadelphia OpenData

Philadelphia city settlements and claim data.

https://www.opendataphilly.org/

Bar Associations & Lawyer Referral

State bars provide vetted lawyer-referral services. Free to use.

American Bar Association — Find Legal Help

Hub linking to every state bar's lawyer-referral service. The ABA's vetted starting point.

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_services/flh-home/

California State Bar — Lawyer Referral

LRS-certified attorneys; pre-screened for licensure and discipline.

https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/Need-Legal-Help/Lawyer-Referral-Service

Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service

Florida Bar-vetted attorneys; covers all practice areas.

https://www.floridabar.org/public/lrs/

Texas Bar — Lawyer Referral & Information Service

Texas state bar referral and information service.

https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Lawyer_Referral_Information

Insurance Industry Sources

Insurance industry standards and consumer protections.

NAIC — National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Auto, property, and liability claim statistics. Insurance company complaint indexes by state.

https://www.naic.org/

Insurance Research Council (IRC)

Where the '3.5× attorney-represented multiplier' figure comes from. Independent research on insurance industry.

https://www.insurance-research.org/

Your State Department of Insurance

File complaints, check insurance company licensure, find consumer guides — every state has one.

https://content.naic.org/state-insurance-departments

Statutes & Case Law (Free)

Where to read the actual statutes and key cases we cite.

Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)

Free comprehensive access to U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Supreme Court cases, and state-law indexes.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/

Justia

Free state statutes and case-law browser. Good for state-specific tort statutes and damage-cap citations.

https://www.justia.com/

CourtListener

Free Recap-Project archive of federal court records, dockets, and opinions. Built by the Free Law Project.

https://www.courtlistener.com/

Government Data Portals

Catch-all for federal agency data not covered elsewhere.

Data.gov

Federal government data portal. Search 'malpractice', 'workers compensation', 'settlement' for relevant datasets.

https://www.data.gov/

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Occupational injury statistics, wage data (used for AWW calculations), and economic indicators.

https://www.bls.gov/

CDC — Workplace Safety and Health

NIOSH workplace injury research, occupational disease data, and safety standards.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/

How We Source

Settlement Insight publishes data-driven research and educational content. Every claim on the site is traceable to one of the sources above. Our methodology and editorial process are documented in our editorial policy.

We’re an independent publisher. We do not accept paid placement, sponsored content, or referral fees from law firms or lawyer-directory businesses. The sources we cite are sources we actually use — not affiliate partners.

Found an error or have a source we should add? Contact us.

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