Special Master scorecard

Live · 13,300 cases in database · latest filing 2026-06-08

Outcome, award and timing statistics for every special master in the registry, computed directly from the decisions in this database. Use the condition filter to compare like with like: a docket heavy in SIRVA settlements will always show a higher win rate than one heavy in contested encephalopathy claims, so the headline win rate mostly reflects case mix. The contested win rate column counts only reasoned decisions, where a Special Master actually ruled on entitlement.

Special Masters shown

with at least 10 cases

Petitioner win rate

77%

13,160 decided cases

Median award

$80K

9,476 compensated cases

Median time to decision

23 mo

11,635 dated cases

Special Master scorecard

Special Master	Cases	Win rate	Contested win rate (n)	Settled share	Median award	Median time	Most common condition
Brian H. Corcoran	6,535	82%	60% (936)	85%	$65K	23 mo	SIRVA
Nora Beth Dorsey	2,373	90%	57% (251)	91%	$95K	15 mo	SIRVA
Christian J. Moran	778	60%	17% (237)	89%	$100K	27 mo	Other / multiple
Thomas L. Gowen	660	73%	55% (130)	84%	$102K	26 mo	Other / multiple
Laura D. Millman	392	68%	17% (95)	87%	$145K	12 mo	Other / multiple
Mindy Michaels Roth	385	63%	37% (83)	87%	$100K	33 mo	Other / multiple
Herbrina Sanders Young	353	50%	24% (88)	87%	$110K	32 mo	Other / multiple
Daniel T. Horner	325	53%	33% (154)	69%	$85K	45 mo	SIRVA
Katherine E. Oler	291	52%	34% (62)	86%	$88K	30 mo	Other / multiple
Lisa D. Hamilton-Fieldman	248	74%	29% (35)	83%	$129K	20 mo	Other / multiple
Denise K. Vowell	194	85%	40% (20)	93%	$105K	9 mo	SIRVA
George L. Hastings Jr.	95	22%	7% (28)	68%	$112K	75 mo	Other / multiple
Jennifer A. Shah	28	57%	29% (7)	88%	$100K	61 mo	Other / multiple
Gary J. Golkiewicz	25	4%	0% (14)	0%	—	48 mo	Other / multiple
Richard B. Abell	13	10%	0% (5)	0%	—	55 mo	Seizure disorder
John F. Edwards	12	9%	n=4	0%	—	36 mo	Seizure disorder
Elizabeth E. Wright	10	10%	n=4	0%	—	43 mo	Seizure disorder

Petitioner win rate, 15 highest-volume special masters

Share of decided cases (compensated or entitlement granted) among compensated, entitlement, denied and dismissed.

Median award

Compensated cases with a recorded award, fee-only awards excluded.

Median months from filing to decision

Cases with both a filing date and a decision date.

What a Special Master's numbers do and do not tell you

Special Masters in the Office of Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims decide Vaccine Injury Compensation Program petitions without a jury and under a relaxed evidentiary standard. Cases are assigned administratively, and since 2017 most shoulder-injury (SIRVA) petitions have been routed to a dedicated docket, which is why one Chief Special Master appears on roughly half of all decisions in this registry and why raw win rates differ so sharply between judges. A high overall win rate mostly means a docket full of Table claims that the government concedes or settles.

The measure that actually compares judges is the contested win rate: the share of reasoned entitlement decisions in which the petitioner prevailed. Even that is confounded by which conditions and which theories reach a hearing in front of each Special Master. Read the two columns together, use the condition filter, and open the individual hub page for the decisions themselves before drawing a conclusion about any one adjudicator.

How to read this. Win rate = compensated or entitlement-granted cases divided by all decided cases (compensated, entitlement granted, denied, dismissed). Dismissals include voluntary withdrawals. Settled share = wins resolved by stipulation or proffer rather than a ruling. Median award uses compensated cases with a recorded dollar award and excludes attorney-fee-only awards. Fields were extracted from the public decisions by an AI pipeline and spot-checked; individual values can be wrong, aggregates are robust. Cases before 2014 are sparse in this corpus.