Judge Okays Culling by Keyword Search before Predictive Coding

The keyword search method, second-best by most accounts, was used by defendant Biomet to cull documents before it employed more sophisticated and expensive predictive coding. Using that two-step method, Biomet produced 2.5 million documents out of a universe of 19.5 million. Plaintiffs, in this major product liability case involving hip implants, argued that the keyword search may have missed valuable evidence and that production should be closer to 10 million documents. The judge, in the name of “proportionality,” said no.