How this index is scored

LegalVendorIndex is owned by Jacob Malherbe, who also owns businesses operating in categories this index covers, including Meta advertising for plaintiff firms (Mass Tort Ad Agency), tort intelligence, reputation and review management, and a legal press wire. Those properties are indexed on the same schedule, under the same criteria, with a permanent ownership-conflict notice on their records that the vendor cannot remove. Mass Tort Ad Agency's record is live in the register. Placement in this register is never sold, and no vendor can pay to change, accelerate, or suppress a finding.

Each criterion carries a weight of 2 or 3. A published answer earns full weight, a partial answer earns half, and no answer earns none. Criteria marked not applicable — including criteria not yet assessed for a vendor — are removed from both numerator and denominator. The score shown on a record is derived at request time from the findings; it is not a stored column, so re-weighting or retiring a criterion re-scores every historical cycle at once.

Contradictions are tracked independently of the verdict. A vendor can publish an answer thoroughly and still be contradicted by observable evidence, so a contradiction never changes the score. It is reported separately.

Anyone can submit an attestation, a dispute, or a vendor suggestion. Submissions enter a review queue and never change the public record directly — a reviewer verifies each one against live pages or the retained evidence artifact before anything publishes. Upheld disputes withdraw the finding; the withdrawal stays visible.