‘Self-selection’ of electronic documents by clients: A cautionary tale

E-Discovery and Technology

By Chad Main

Chad Main is an attorney and the founder of Percipient, a legal technology and e-discovery company focusing on managed document review (percipient.co). Prior to founding Percipient, Main worked as a litigator in both Los Angeles and Chicago. He may be reached at cmain@percipient.co.

Posted August 31, 2015 2:47 PM

A recent opinion in a case against Ford Motor Co. over unintentional vehicle acceleration demonstrates why it is often inadvisable to let data custodians collect their own electronic documents for discovery in litigation.In Burd v. Ford Motor Co., Case No. 3:13-cv-20976 (S.D. W. Va. July 8, 2015) and Johnson v. Ford Motor Co., 3:13-cv-06529 (S.D. W. Va. July 8, 2015), attorneys for Ford permitted its employees to “self-select” relevant documents to produce in litigation. For the “self-selection&rdquo …

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