How to use Overturn

Overturn turns an inspection report or a crash report into a filed-ready FMCSA Request for Data Review. This guide covers what to bring, how to work the five screens, and how to tell a dispute worth filing from one that will cost us credibility.

What Overturn is for

DataQs is a data accuracy process. A reviewer at the state agency or FMCSA reads the request, looks at the underlying record and the proof attached, and decides whether the data is right. It is not an appeal, not a hearing, and not a place to argue that a rule is unfair.

That single fact decides most outcomes. A request built on a document wins. A request built on how the carrier feels about the violation loses, and the same reviewers see our next one. Overturn is built around that: it will tell you when a record cannot be disputed, and it will not write a claim the carrier cannot prove.

Use it for:

• Roadside inspection violations - the condition did not exist, the wrong regulation was cited, an exception applies, the record belongs to another carrier or driver, a data entry error, a duplicate, a citation the court dismissed, or an out-of-service flag that did not meet the criteria.
• Crash records - a Crash Preventability Determination request, a crash that does not meet the reportable definition, a crash on the wrong carrier, or a wrong field on the crash record.

Overturn is a consultant tool. Customers do not have access to it, and nothing they enter anywhere else reaches it.

Before you start

Overturn works from documents. Fifteen minutes gathering them makes the difference between a strong request and a thin one.

Step 1 - Documents

• Carrier - the list is every carrier in the portal. Pick the right one; the USDOT and MC you enter are remembered for next time.
• Documents - PDFs or photos, up to 22 MB each. Drop several at once. Overturn guesses what each file is from its name; correct the dropdown next to any it gets wrong, because the label tells the reader how to treat the document.
• Anything we should know - the carrier's version, in plain words. Overturn tests it rather than repeating it, so it is safe to put a half-formed theory here.
• Prior denial - if a DataQ on this record already came back denied, paste the denial reason. The new request will answer that reason head-on instead of repeating the losing argument.

Then press Read the documents. It takes about a minute. If you have no documents at all, Skip - enter by hand lets you type the record in, but expect a weaker case: most of the leverage comes from what is printed on the report.

Step 2 - Facts

Fix anything wrong. The report number, the date, and the unit go into the request; a wrong report number gets it rejected on sight.

Read the "Worth a look" panel first

This is where Overturn earns its keep. It flags what a disputer should notice: a measurement printed on the report that sits inside the regulatory tolerance, two fields on the same line that contradict each other, an out-of-service box checked without a qualifying violation, a citation number that implies a court case worth pulling, a crash narrative that credits the other driver with the whole sequence, video or witnesses named in the narrative.

Read it before you decide what to dispute. It regularly finds a better ground than the one the carrier called about.

Then click the violation you want. One violation per request. If the report has three, run three separate cases - bundling a strong item with two weak ones invites a blanket denial.

Step 3 - Grounds

The banner at the top gives one of three answers:

Under it, every ground is scored 0-100 on what the carrier can actually prove, not on how wronged they feel. Each card shows what it must prove, what evidence it needs, the risk of choosing it, and which DataQs category it maps to.

Usually take the top-ranked ground. Pick a lower one only when you know something the tool does not, and expect the draft to be weaker.

For a crash, you also choose the CPDP crash type. Overturn preselects the one that fits the police report. The program covers crashes on or after 1 August 2019, and types 17 through 21 apply to crashes on or after 1 December 2024. Confirm the exact wording against the dropdown on the DataQs form when you file.

Step 4 - Interview

The questions are written for this specific record. Each one either establishes a fact the narrative needs or determines whether a document exists.

How to answer well

• Be specific. "The shop measured 4/32 on 6/16, written on work order 88421" beats "the tire was fine." Dates, numbers, names, and document titles all end up in the request.
• Say what you do not know. Guessing is worse than a gap. Overturn writes unknowns as [CONFIRM: ...] so you can fill them before filing.
• Skip means unknown, never favorable. Skipping a question does not help the case; the draft treats it as an open hole.
• Dictate if it is faster. The Dictate button transcribes; Clean up tidies punctuation without changing a single fact, number, or hedge.
• Be honest on the evidence checklist. Marking a document you cannot produce is the fastest way to get denied. Marked "do not have," the narrative simply drops the claim instead of leaning on it.

Dig deeper

Dig deeper runs a follow-up round that reacts to your answers - it chases a document your answer implied, pins down a date or measurement, or resolves a contradiction with the report. Two or three rounds is the natural end. When there is nothing new worth asking, it tells you so.

The coverage bar is a read on how completely the case is documented, not a score you need to max out. A well-documented simple case can be ready at 85.

Step 5 - Dispute

You get the narrative to paste into DataQs, plus everything you need to judge it:

• Strength grade - strong moderate weak, with what carries it and what weakens it. A weak grade is information, not a failure - it usually means one document away.
• Attach these - every document the narrative references. Anything marked with a red flag is one the carrier said it does not have: get it, or the narrative has to drop that claim.
• What the reviewer will say - the two or three objections most likely to sink the request, each with the strongest honest response. Read these before filing. If you cannot answer one, you are not ready.
• Still missing and if it comes back denied - the practical next move, including whether a second request is worth filing at all.
• Filing notes - case-specific reminders: which category to select, what to attach, what to keep out of the filing, what to chase separately.

Copy narrative puts the text on your clipboard. Download case file gives you a branded PDF with the narrative, the reasoning, the attachment list and the interview record - that is the copy for the customer file. Email it sends the same PDF to whoever you name. Rewrite regenerates the draft, which is worth doing after you go back and add answers or evidence.

Cases save automatically. Come back later and pick yours up from "Pick up where you left off" on the first screen.

Filing at DataQs

1. Sign in at dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov with the FMCSA Portal account.
2. Start a Request for Data Review against the carrier's USDOT number.
3. Select the request category from the filing notes - the category decides who reviews it, and the wrong one routes the request to someone who cannot act on it.
4. Identify the exact record: inspection report number, the violation section, and the unit. Say plainly that the request addresses only that violation.
5. Paste the narrative. Read it once more on the screen.
6. Upload the attachments from the list, and make sure the cited line is legible in the scan.
7. Submit, and record the case number in the customer file.

Timing. Inspection challenges are accepted up to three years back, and violations affect SMS for 24 months, so file promptly rather than waiting on a document you can add later. If you are missing an attachment at submission time, you can add supporting documents afterward.

Adjudicated citations. If a citation was dismissed, resulted in a not-guilty finding, or was reduced to a different charge, that is its own request and you need a certified copy of the court disposition. It applies to citations issued at inspections on or after 23 August 2014.

After you file

The state agency or FMCSA reviews and responds through DataQs. Expect anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the state.

• Granted - the violation is removed or corrected, and SMS updates on its next monthly run. Tell the customer the score does not change the same day.
• Non-preventable (CPDP) - the crash stays on the record but is excluded from the Crash Indicator BASIC calculation and annotated in SMS and PSP.
• Denied - read the reason before doing anything. Overturn's "if it comes back denied" section tells you whether a second request is worth filing and exactly what evidence would change the answer. Do not refile the same argument; a repeat with no new proof is how a reviewer learns to skim our submissions.

To build the follow-up, open the case again, paste the denial reason into the prior-denial box, and rerun. The new draft answers the denial directly.

What wins and what loses

Wins

• A contradiction printed on the agency's own report.
• A measurement, timestamped photo, ECM or ELD record, scale ticket, or third-party inspection made close to the inspection date.
• A regulation with an express exception, applicability limit, or numeric tolerance the facts fall inside of, quoted in its own words.
• A certified court disposition.
• A lease or dispatch record putting the unit under another authority at that moment.
• A narrow request that concedes an inconvenient fact and explains why it does not change the outcome.

Loses, every time

• "It is hurting our CSA score." Severity weights and time weighting are policy, not data.
• "The officer was unfair or targeted us." Conduct complaints are not a data quality issue.
• "We fixed it right after." A post-inspection repair confirms the defect existed.
• "The driver was coached / no longer works here." Discipline does not change what the record says happened.
• "No citation was issued." Violations are recorded independently of citations.
• "We have a good record otherwise." Context is not a correction.

The full reference lives in the app - open the Reference: what DataQs will and will not fix drawer at the bottom of any screen.

Troubleshooting

A step is taking a long time.

Reading documents, ranking grounds and writing the draft each take roughly one to two minutes; a big scanned packet takes longer. Leave the tab open. If a step errors out, run it again - a retry after a dropped connection normally succeeds.

My file will not upload.

The cap is 22 MB per file. Rescan at a lower DPI or split the packet. Photos taken on a phone are usually fine as-is.

No violations came off the report.

The scan is probably too poor to read, or it is a summary rather than the report. Add violations by hand on the Facts screen, and expect fewer observations - the tool cannot flag a contradiction in text it cannot read.

The extracted facts are wrong.

Correct them on the Facts screen before continuing. Everything downstream, including the narrative, uses what is on that screen and not the raw document.

Can a customer see this?

No. Overturn is consultant-only in the portal and is not entitled to any customer login. Uploaded documents and case files stay inside the tool.

Where does the narrative come from?

Claude reads your documents and answers against Synergy's DataQ playbook - the grounds that can actually win, what each must prove, and the arguments that never work. It is prohibited from inventing a report number, a measurement, a court disposition, or an attachment. That is what the [CONFIRM: ...] brackets are.

Open Overturn · questions or a case that did not fit the tool, send it to Jon.