If you are of a certain age, the song by Perry Como may come to mind, combining a catchy tune with the names of some 15 US States to create a jolly, jokey offering which today seems somewhat innocent and naïve.
Anyway, a new name has now been added to the pantheon of judges extolling the virtues of predictive coding, or as it may be more usefully called, computer assisted review (CAR).
Just last month, Vice Chancellor J Travis Laster, in the Delaware Chancery Court became the first judge I am aware of to order the parties to use CAR even though neither party had asked for it. Not content with that, the judge also ordered both parties to use the same vendor!
Ralph Losey’s blog carries the full report: Surprise Ruling by Delaware Judge Orders Both Sides To Use Predictive Coding [e-Discovery Team, 25th October, 2012] .
Although the case arose out of a dispute involving the sale of Hooters, a well known restaurant famous for its chicken and scantily clad waitresses (there used to be one in Birmingham where a trumpeter played his trumpet plaintively at all hours of the day and night such that you wanted to strangle him!), it is clear from the report that this particular judge is smitten with the concept of CAR.
The exact words of the ruling by the judge and the transcript of the hearing are well worth a read. It is clear that this is another step on the road, at any rate in Delaware, to CAR being adopted as the default position. After all no one asked for it and no one was accused of any wrongdoing beforehand.
Is this what we can expect after April 2013 in this country? I would not bet against it!