Methodology & Data Pipeline

1. The Data Source

TDARI connects directly to CourtListener, a public database of federal court dockets operated by the Free Law Project. We specifically isolate searches to federal district courts (e.g., Texas Western, New York Southern, Florida Southern, California Central) where Title III ADA digital accessibility claims are filed.

2. Keyword & Metadata Isolation

Because federal courts do not explicitly tag cases as "website accessibility" or "WCAG," TDARI relies on a two-step Boolean pipeline:

• Broad Net: We query docket entries containing terms like "ADA" AND "website" OR "Title III" OR "accessibility" OR "Americans with Disabilities".
• Nature of Suit (NOS): We filter heavily for Nature of Suit codes 446 (Civil Rights - Americans with Disabilities - Other) and 440 (Other Civil Rights).

3. AI Forensics Engine

For every lawsuit identified, our system automatically downloads the original PDF complaint (via PACER RECAP). A headless Chromium instance combined with a specialized AI agent reads the legal document and extracts:

• The specific WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) failures alleged (e.g., contrast, alt text, keyboard focus).
• The URL of the defendant's website.
• The plaintiff and the plaintiff's law firm.

4. Deflagging Non-Digital Cases

Any case found to be purely "bricks and mortar" (e.g., missing wheelchair ramps, parking lot disputes) is automatically discarded from the database to maintain 100% digital focus.

5. Index Scoring Formula

The TDARI Risk Score (0-100) shown on state and case pages is calculated dynamically based on three factors:

• Venue Velocity: Volume of ADA website filings in that specific district over the last 90 days.
• Firm Aggression: The historical filing rate of the plaintiff's law firm attached to the case.
• Violation Overlap: How common the alleged WCAG failures are across the state cohort.

6. Audit & Verification

All underlying data can be independently verified through CourtListener's public API and PACER's CM/ECF system. TDARI does not paywall any data, modify original court records, or apply proprietary ML classifiers. The scoring formula above is the complete, unabridged methodology.

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