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Sanctions watch

Every incident where a lawyer got caught filing AI-fabricated citations. The Hall of Shame.

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9
Incidents tracked
4
Incidents in 2026
$16,371
In fines, where reported
4 of 9 report an amount

The curve

Incidents per month

Last 18 months of published incidents, by the date of the court's order.

Mar 2025 Aug 2026

Charting 6 of 9 incidents — the rest are undated or fall outside this window.

Blamed by name

ChatGPT 156 Claude 9 Copilot 8 Gemini 7 Lexis+ AI 4 LegalAI 3 Westlaw Precision 3 ChatOn 2 CoCounsel 2 LEAP 2 AI-assisted legal software 1 AI-based legal software 1 Archie 1 Centient AI 1 ChatGPT-4o 1 Descrybe.ai 1 Eve 1 GPT-3.5 1 Generative artificial intelligence (unsp 1 Ghostwriter Legal 1 Google AI Overview 1 Google Scholar 1 Grammarly 1 Grok 1 Legal Genius 1 Lexis 1 Lexis Nexis 1 Morgan & Morgan’s in-house Artificial In 1 OpenCase 1 OpenLaw 1 Perplexity AI 1 Westlaw CoCounsel 1 Westlaw’s CoCounsel 1 in-house AI database 1

Counts only incidents where the filing court or the reporting named the tool.

Hall of Shame

All Caught, not sanctioned 4 Fined 3 Referred to the bar 2

Showing 9 incidents involving Claude. Clear filters

Referred to the bar $8K Claude
A lawyer filed immigration submissions with four non-existent case citations and was referred to the WA legal regulator and ordered to pay costs.
Australia immigration case (anonymised lawyer referred to Legal Practice Board of Western Australia) · Federal Court of Australia
““demonstrates the inherent dangers associated with practitioners solely relying on the use of artificial intelligence in the preparation of court documents and the way in which that interacts with a practitioner’s duty to the court”.”
theguardian.com ↗
The file →
  • An anonymised lawyer in an immigration case was referred to the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.
  • The court found the submissions contained four case citations that did not exist.
  • The federal court ordered costs of $8,371.30 and made the referral.
  • Federal Court of Australia; the lawyer was not named in the article.
  • Justice Arran Gerrard said the case showed the dangers of solely relying on AI; the lawyer used Claude and Copilot.
Fined $1K Claude 2026-05-18
A lawyer filed a brief with Claude-generated fabricated quotes and was fined $1,000 plus ordered to take an AI-assistance course.
Louisiana district court matter · Louisiana district court · LA
“Ignorance of the risks of AI usage is no longer an excuse,”
cebudailynews.inquirer.net ↗
The file →
  • Jerry Edwards Jr. sanctioned the lawyer in a Louisiana district court matter.
  • The brief contained seven AI-generated quotes attributed to prior rulings that were false or misrepresented.
  • The court fined him $1,000 and ordered a three-hour AI-assisted legal practice course.
  • Louisiana district court, Louisiana.
  • The sanctions order was issued May 18; the lawyer said a clerk had caught errors in an earlier draft and then he used Claude to fix them.
Caught, not sanctioned Claude 2026-05-15
A motion to quash included Claude-generated phantom quotations, and the lawyers apologized to the court; the page does not report a sanction order.
AFGE v. Trump · Binnall Law Group PLLC; Jason Greaves; Jesse Binnall; Lindsay McKasson · US District Court for the Northern District of California · CA
““While I reviewed the cited cases generally to confirm their applicability, as well as many other cases that I reviewed, I did not double check the quotations and obviously did not read the cited cases carefully,” Greaves wrote.”
news.bloomberglaw.com ↗
The file →
  • AFGE v. Trump involved Binnall Law Group PLLC lawyers.
  • Jason Greaves used Claude Console to draft a motion to quash a subpoena.
  • The motion included “phantom” quotations, prompting apologies to the court.
  • Court: US District Court for the Northern District of California, California.
  • Date: 2026-05-15; the page describes the misuse but reports no sanction order.
Caught, not sanctioned Claude 2026-05-06
A court filing in the Trump layoffs case contained phantom legal quotations generated by Claude Console, prompting sanctions scrutiny.
Trump layoffs court filing involving phantom legal quotations · U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York · NY
incidentdatabase.ai ↗
The file →
  • Trump layoffs court filing involving phantom legal quotations
  • Claude Console generated the false legal quotations in the filing
  • The page does not say a sanction was imposed
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
  • 2026-05-06; the incident was about fabricated quotations, not citations
Fined $5K Claude 2026-04-27
Raja Rajan was sanctioned $5,000 for filing a brief with AI-generated fabrications and had already been fined $2,500 in the same matter.
Rajan matter · Raja Rajan · US District Court · PA
“any first-year law student knows you have to verify the authority cited, and warned that a third strike would mean referral to Pennsylvania's disciplinary board.”
habeas.ai ↗
The file →
  • Raja Rajan was sanctioned in a federal matter in Pennsylvania.
  • He filed a brief containing AI-generated fabrications.
  • The court imposed a $5,000 sanction, after a prior $2,500 fine in the same case.
  • US District Judge Kai Scott issued the order in Pennsylvania.
  • Rajan said he could not remember whether he used Claude, ChatGPT or Grok.
Referred to the bar Claude 2025-08-15
A lawyer filed submissions citing four non-existent cases based on Claude AI research, and Judge Gerrard ordered personal costs and referred the conduct.
JNE24 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2025] FedCFamC2G 1314 · Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2)
“Legal principles are not simply slogans which can be affixed to submissions without context or analysis.”
mpslaw.com.au ↗
The file →
  • JNE24 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship involved a lawyer whose submissions cited four cases.
  • The citations came from Claude AI research and the cases did not exist or did not support the propositions.
  • Judge Gerrard ordered the lawyer to pay costs personally and referred the conduct to the regulatory body.
  • Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2).
  • 2025-08-15; the court declined to reproduce the citations to avoid contributing to case hallucinations.
Caught, not sanctioned Claude 2025-05-23
Latham filed an expert declaration with a Claude-formatted citation that fabricated the article title and authors.
Concord Music Group, Inc. v. Anthropic PBC · Latham and Watkins · N.D. Cal. · CA
“undermines the overall credibility”
gc.ai ↗
The file →
  • Concord Music Group, Inc. v. Anthropic PBC involved Latham and Watkins.
  • Claude was used to format a reference, but it fabricated the title and authors.
  • Judge Susan van Keulen struck the affected paragraph; no one was sanctioned.
  • N.D. Cal., California.
  • May 2025; the error was a single citation in an expert declaration.
Fined $2K Claude 2024-01-01
A plaintiff's brief used Claude-generated citations to two nonexistent cases and fabricated quotations, and the court imposed a modest sanctions order.
Gauthier v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. · Brandon Monk · U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas · TX
counselpro.ai ↗
The file →
  • Gauthier v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; plaintiff's attorney
  • The brief contained two nonexistent cases and fabricated quotations generated by Claude.
  • The court imposed a $2,000 penalty plus CLE and employer notice requirements.
  • Eastern District of Texas; federal court in Texas.
  • Late 2024; the attorney admitted using Claude without verifying the output.
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