Show HN: Open-source database and summary data of forced arbitration cases

Here is an award someone emailed to us: https://levelplayingfield.io/case/56038

Hey All,

https://github.com/LevelPlayingField

We've built an open source database of consumer and employee arbitration cases. We've also generated summary data pages for each party (defendants, attorneys, arbitrators, etc.). We used Discourse to make a forum that links to each case and allows people to discuss them or tell their story.

A problem we saw while dealing with a personal arbitration was that this data was out there but nobody was making it usable for regular folks. Also, some forums where people were helping each other disappeared, including all of that useful history (FatWallet comes to mind). So we did both.

One of the coolest things you can do is research a company you’re considering filing against or look up the decision history of arbitrators. From there you can find and reach out to attorneys that have gone up against them or similar companies. You can filter by state - though last we checked, arbitration doesn’t require an attorney be licensed in your state.

Here are some example queries (you can also sort some columns): Here is a query of parties showing who has the highest case count: https://levelplayingfield.io/search?q=is%3Aparty%20&sortBy=c... Law Firm - Keller Leckner: https://levelplayingfield.io/party/law-firm-keller-lenkner-l... Party search term “University”: https://levelplayingfield.io/search?q=is%3Aparty%20Universit... Party search term “Amazon”: https://levelplayingfield.io/search?q=is%3Aparty%20amazon&so...

Here are all of the ways you can filter the data: https://levelplayingfield.io/search-help. We’ve used this as an excuse to experiment with different technologies. Our search syntax emulated Github but may be too difficult for the general public.

Lots of people use the database every day. Our hosting is donated. We’ve been cited in prestigious law journal articles, major news articles, and are reference material at the Yale Law Library =)

There are a lot of interesting untold stories in this data. When we have time or volunteers, we tell stories on our blog (no time or volunteers lately). If you just browse, search words and sort party data by count, you’ll find interesting things… Try it.

The data only becomes available after a case is over. So pending cases do not show up but we invite those with active arbitrations to tell their stories in our forum. Consumer arbitrations are rarely confidential but employment arbitrations usually are. Sharing stories helps the next person, even if it’s five years later. People message us regularly with awesome stories.

We can imagine lots of improvements but lack time. Want to play with new technology in a way that might help people? Make a PR or send us an email. We may be slow to respond but we will get back to you. Promise.

Our real life is https://coManage.com. It’s similar but instead of leveraging idle legal data to help people, we leverage idle property management data to help people. Anyways, that’s another story.

Thanks, Dan & Frank