The D&O Coverage Litigation Tracker is a multi-sourced database and dashboard through which to view D&O insurance coverage litigation in federal and state courts in the United States. The D&O tracker uses mixed methods to identify, track, and understand this case population in real time. The D&O Tracker builds on the methods and success of the widely cited Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker.
The Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker and the D&O Tracker demonstrate that it is possible to track what Marc Galanter called “case congregations” and “populations” in real time.
“What I mean by a congregation is a group of cases that are seen as a defined set that share common features, that are shaped by a common history, that are subject to shared contingencies, and that lean into a common future. … I think there is a useful contrast, even if it is a relative one, between what I call congregations and relatively long lasting, slow-moving populations ….” Marc Galanter, “Case Congregations and Their Careers,” 24 Law & Soc’y Rev. 371 (1990).
In Galanter’s terms, the Covid business interruption coverage cases are a case congregation, and the D&O cases are a population. We hope that our coding of the issues in the D&O cases, will help us to identify some case congregations within the D&O population. Time will tell!
Insurance Law Analytics
Insurance Law Analytics has two purposes: (1) to conduct empirical research on insurance litigation to inform the resolution of insurance disputes and the development of insurance law, and (2) to develop, test, and publicize new methods for conducting empirical legal research.
Tom Baker
The D&O Tracker was created by Professor Tom Baker, founder of Insurance Law Analytics and creator of the authoritative and widely cited Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker. Professor Baker teaches and writes about many aspects of insurance. Before joining the Penn Carey Law faculty, he was the inaugural Connecticut Mutual Professor and Director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut, an Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Law, and an insurance coverage litigator at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He is the Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law Liability Insurance and the recipient of the 2024 Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize awarded by the Law & Society Association “for empirical scholarship that has contributed most effectively to the advancement of research in Law and Society.” For more information, see his Penn Carey Law faculty webpage.
Thank you to
- Vijay Prakash for professionalizing and leading the D&O Tracker research team and Yu Miao for taking over that role.
- The Insurance Law Center of the University of Connecticut School of Law for providing a team of UConn law students to assist with the coding.
- Alex Shor for his work as data engineer and technical advisor. We highly recommend Alex. He can be reached at alexshor@gmail.com.
- Michael Klausner and Jason Hegland of Stanford Securities Litigation Analytics (SSLA) for introducing us to Alex, sharing their data structure and platform, and providing the inspiration for Insurance Law Analytics.
- Penn Law School’s IT department for technical support.
