Sanctions watch

“I absolve the mother of any intention to mislead the court.”

“This is larger than any of us,”

“The opinion is short and direct.”

““I’m pinning my sanctions on your signature as a sworn officer of the court,” Gamble of the 459th district court in Travis County said at a hearing.”

“but the sheer number of inaccurate or nonexistent citations suggests otherwise.”

““I did not comprehend that ChatGPT could fabricate cases,” Schwartz later told the judge.”

“… well over the majority of the citations provided to this court in plaintiff’s opening brief were fabricated, misleading or unsupported.”

“"submission of a motion with numerous nonexistent and erroneous citations, coupled with her repeated failure to be forthcoming with the court, constitutes conduct that is 'akin to contempt of court,'"”

“The situation was “troubling,” said Judge Ana Keil Lynch.”

“It was a “perfect storm” of “temptation of AI out there at a time when [he] was busy and trying to meet deadlines.””

“one also does not need to be a lawyer to read through a case to verify if it stands for the suggested proposition.”

“"here is this case and it supports our position" and the case doesn’t exist.”

“the submission of fabricated authorities as “appalling professional misbehaviour””

“Whoever or whatever drafted the briefs signed and filed by Blackburn, it is clear that he, at the very best, acted with culpable neglect of his professional obligations.”

“He wrote that allowing revisions would unfairly burden defendants who had already responded, noting that the proposed corrections still contained errors.”

“"highly suspcious"”

“Use of AI is not the problem per se.”

“It is undisputed that appellant’s attorney, Fahiin Farivar, filed a brief containing numerous fabricated quotations—that is, language falsely attributed to published decisions.”

“Defendant’s opening brief cites six cases which do not exist.”

“Deputy President World rejected a claim citing three phantom Full Bench authorities, warning of costs.”

“"wild goose chase"”

“"more substantial penalties" will follow in future cases of non-compliance with the Notice.”

“The court understands that, in issuing this order, it does so in a proverbial new frontier as society begins to grapple with both the power and potential danger of this technology,” Hall wrote at the time.”

“bad faith”

“violated basic duties of competence and candor as contemplated by the rules governing professional conduct.”

“Plaintiff’s motion is riddled with AI hallucinations, made up cases, quotes, and statements of law and fact.”

“"Carelessness, good faith, or ignorance are not an excuse for submitting materials that do not comply with Rule 11."”

“The six cases were fake and likely the handiwork of a ChatGPT or similar artificial intelligence (AI) program’s hallucinations,”

““no lawyer should be using … a generative AI product to perform research without verifying results. Period.””

“U.S. District Judge Murray Snow called Wright’s explanation a “convoluted tale.””

“simply not credible”

“"[C]ourts in this [C]ircuit have repeatedly found that presenting AI-generated hallucinations as valid caselaw constitutes subjective bad faith."”

“the worst example of misconduct by a lawyer that I think I’ve ever seen since I’ve been on the bench.”

“the law firm's name appeared on the case filing that contained "significant misrepresentations," the court explained.”

“The Court didn't mince words.”

“Mr. Cho has confirmed that he indeed used AI, which provided him with hallucinated case law and propositions that he then incorporated into his reply brief without verification.”

“In the quickly expanding universe of cases involving sanctions for the misuse of artificial intelligence, this case is a notorious outlier in both degree and volume,”

““as a warning””

““This case presents the Court with an unusual scenario — attorneys for both litigants engaged in similar sanctionable conduct,””

“the need to check whether the assertions and quotations generated were accurate trumps all.”

“After the first, he promised the court, “I’m not going to do it again,” just before getting hit with two more rounds of sanctions a month later.”

“AI was misused”

“"This is unacceptable," the appeals court said.”

“tantamount to bad faith”

“Sanders submitted a brief “prepared with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence, containing citations to nonexistent cases, fictitious purported Court of Appeals quotations wholly contrary to actual law, and misrepresentations about what certain real cases actually held or decided,” LaSalle wrote.”

“The next lawyer who does the same thing is warned that he or she will likely see a more significant penalty.”

“However, [Counsel]'s decision not to be honest with the Court during oral argument also demonstrated his professional immaturity, arrogance, and profound lack of respect for the judicial system.”

“"But unlike a human, a large language model does not appreciate nuance or exercise judgment or use a moral compass when writing. It just does calculations, and then puts words in the order dictated by statistical probabilities. The calculations are impressive – large volumes of authoritative-sounding text are generated in seconds or minutes. But they are just calculations. And the product only reads or sounds like text written by humans. It isn't the same."”

“The trial court described the filing as containing “nonexistent citations” and “fictitious quotations,” ultimately imposing sanctions under California Code of Civil Procedure § 128.7.”

“If someone—even an intern—gets the case name, number, year, and quotation wrong, they are not struggling with research or citation formatting. They are struggling with honesty.”

“We issue this disciplinary order, and explain our reasoning at some length, as a warning to the members of this Court's bar: be aware of the risks of overreliance on generative AI, read everything cited in a court filing—whether drafted by generative AI or not—and disclose quickly and transparently generative AI hallucinations that are inadvertently included in court filings….”

“The pro se litigant cited only one nonexistent case, but the court ruled that that was sufficient to warrant the imposition of a sanction.”

“"It's striking, concerning, disappointing, and saddening to think that members of the bar would forward cases to a court that don't exist, and to think that the lawyers on the other side of that didn’t read it for whatever reason, didn’t check it."”

“Ignorance of the risks of AI usage is no longer an excuse,”

“"I am going to hold you in contempt," Judge Gordon said, "but I am going to issue an oral admonition."”

“The Court does not prohibit or oppose the use of artificial intelligence in legal advocacy, so long as counsel independently verifies the accuracy of AI-generated content.”

“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.”

“The brief on file “contain[ed] fabricated quotations and propositions of law falsely attributed to existing cases.””

“The judge said the court “remains appalled by Mr. Rajan’s improper conduct.””

“Courts and clients must be able to trust that the filings attorneys submit are accurate, supported, and compliant with professional standards,”

“The court held that citing "real legal authorities", as opposed to hallucinations featuring fictitious cases, did not absolve him.”

“The court found that the municipality relied on materials generated by AI tools that included a non-existent Education Ministry directive and fabricated court rulings, and exceptionally ordered the municipality to pay 30,000 NIS (approximately $9,600) in legal costs.”

“Still, they “displayed a reckless disregard for the obligation to ensure that what is filed in federal court is true, verified, and worthy of the public trust,” warranting sanctions “both to redress the specific harm and to deter recurrence.””

“submitting a brief with unchecked and ultimately fabricated citations may breach an attorney’s duties of professionalism, truthfulness, and candor to the court.”

“We further explained that it was “an exceptionally grave situation for at least three reasons.””

“The court found they "repeatedly misrepresented the record, cited non-existent cases, and cited cases for propositions of law that they did not even discuss, much less support."”

“[n]o brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court should contain any citations — whether provided by generative AI or any other source — that” a lawyer has not personally “read and verified.”

“Pro se status does not shelter plaintiffs from sanctions pursuant to Rule 11. … Filing a document that contains citations to nonexistent cases, quotes language that comes from no real case, or that contains arguments wholly unsupported by the record violates Rule 11. Allen did just that. This demonstrates that Allen failed to make a reasonable inquiry into the supporting law or facts.”

“"We publish this opinion to emphasize that courts and attorneys alike have a responsibility to protect the legal system against distortion by fabricated law, particularly in this new era of hallucinated citations generated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools."”

“It is again re-emphasised in this judgment.”

“The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday sanctioned a Texas attorney for using generative artificial intelligence to draft a brief that was "riddled with fabricated quotations and assertions," while rebuking the attorney for not being more forthcoming about her use of the technology and her failure to check its accuracy.”

““Regrettably, despite numerous news stories, CLE presentations, scholarly articles, and judicial entreaties, AI-hallucinated case citations have increasingly become an even greater problem in our courts, and the problem shows no sign of abating,””

“the Rule 11 duty is “nondelegable.””

““To this day it blows my mind it has that capability,””

“Judge Kearney was not impressed.”

“Lead Counsel submitted a brief containing citations to fake opinions—authorities which did not stand for the propositions asserted, arose from inapposite jurisdictions, or included inaccurate quotations.”

“To be clear, it is not professional misconduct for a lawyer to use AI to assist in the preparation of a factum.”

“There's a difference between a seasoned, good lawyer and somebody who uses AI to look like one.”

“Had Hersh accepted responsibility and been more forthcoming, it is likely that the court would have imposed lesser sanctions.”

““The fault for reliance on AI hallucinations as factually accurate lies not with the research programme,  but with the person responsible for conducting the search.””

“"Mr. Blackburn confirmed that he indeed used AI that provided him with hallucinated case law and propositions that he then incorporated into his response brief and that he failed to verify on subsequent review," Judge Gordon wrote.”

“The Court found that the plaintiff’s attorney plainly violated Rule 11 by using a hallucinated case; the attorney admitted same.”

“"rather than a correction, Mr. Brigandi attempted a cover-up," and that "he failed at both."”

“The judge additionally imposed a $3,000 sanction on co-counsel Celeste Boyd, who he said used ChatGPT to draft and edit portions of the briefs but failed to verify the material, Reuters also reports.”

“The Court further emphasized its focus was “not on the misuse of artificial intelligence to conduct unreliable legal research and drafting,” but “the inexcusable submission of false authority and factual arguments to the Court, the subsequent misrepresentations about the extent of the improper conduct, and the failure to take prompt responsibility for errors once discovered.””

“Although artificial intelligence programs may seem to offer a shortcut for a busy attorney in an individual case, at present, they may create a long cut to justice,”

“The US District Court for the District of Oregon fined an attorney $15,500 in December for citing fake cases and not being “adequately forthcoming, candid, or apologetic” about it.”

“We also recognize that it has become common to refer to cases and principles fabricated by artificial intelligence as ‘hallucinations.’ We reject that terminology because it obscures both the nature and the seriousness of the situation we face. … [G]enerative artificial intelligence is not perceiving nonexistent law as the result of a disorder. Rather, it is generating nonexistent law in accordance with its design.”

“It…appears Attorney Lucas used artificial intelligence to prepare the opening brief, filed the brief without verifying the accuracy of the case authority it discusses, and failed to correct his mis citation of cases appearing in the opening brief despite the County’s appellate brief noting these errors.”

““In my judgement, from the evidence that I have heard, it was not Mr Newton that placed false material before the court, it was administrative staff at his firm.””

“The Court finds this response inadequate and not credible,”

“Grotke's spurious citations bear the hallmarks of hallucinated citations produced by generative AI.”

““Attorney Siddell admitted to violating his professional duty by including a hallucinated citation and misrepresenting the law provided in other opinions.”

“Manufacturing "facts," then presenting them to the Court as genuine, threatens to corrupt the Court's analysis and undermine the integrity of the judicial process at the summary judgment stage.”

““If the applicant used AI or other sources in preparing the material they submitted, I am not satisfied they checked the accuracy of the information obtained”.”

“Plaintiff's counsel submitted legal authority and citations generated by “A.I.” software without verifying their authenticity.”

“Somehow the message still has not been hammered home as the epidemic of citing fake cases continues unabated,”

“At this point, any attorney—but especially attorneys like [the sanctioned lawyer] with a cosmopolitan, multistate, practice—cannot plead ignorance to justify their use or misuse of AI in drafting legal documents.”

“The conduct here is not as egregious as what occurred in Noland.”

“"the use of AI is not the problem per se; instead, “[t]he problem arises when attorneys abdicate their responsibility to ensure their factual and legal representations to the Court—even if originally sourced from AI—are accurate.””

“The Court therefore imposed a $5,000 sanction on the Defendant, both to punish his conduct and to deter similar behaviour in the future.”

“It follows that the citation of a fictitious AI-generated authority to the court, whether intentionally or otherwise, is wholly impermissible.”

“When used without safeguards, large language models frequently introduce confusion and delay into proceedings, and worse, constitute an abuse of process that may potentially bring the administration of justice into disrepute.”

“The court finds “good cause supports the imposition of sanctions in order to deter such conduct in the future, which amounts to serious misconduct that threatens to impugn the integrity of the courts and the administration of justice,” Guerra Gamble said.”

““but the sheer number of inaccurate or nonexistent citations suggests otherwise,””

“At this point, it ‘is no secret that generative AI programs are known to ‘hallucinate’ nonexistent cases, and with the advent of AI, courts have seen a rash of cases in which both counsel and pro se litigants have cited such fake, hallucinated cases, in their briefs,’”

“Nearly all of the legal quotations in plaintiff’s opening brief, and many of the quotations in plaintiff’s reply brief, are fabricated,”

“Rule 11 does not prohibit the use of generative AI, however, it does require parties to verify that they are not submitting briefs to the Court which rely on fictitious cases.”

“The Court does not take this action lightly.”

“His Honour Judge Charman found that the solicitor’s and firm’s conduct was improper, unreasonable and negligent, applying the Divisional Court’s June guidance from Ayinde.”

“the “least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.””

“The Court confirms that the inclusion of a Declaration, in and of itself, will not attract an adverse inference by the Court.”

““In the Court's view, there is nothing inherently wrong with an attorney properly and competently utilizing AI or any of its subsets to practice law or litigate cases,””

“deeply troubling”

“Justice Murphy said it was likely that the false document citations came from using generative AI, which had the capacity to "fabricate" or "hallucinate" information.”

“Based on these observations, the court determines that legal contentions made by counsel for plaintiff were not warranted by existing law as represented through counsel’s signature and filing of the application,” Kapetan wrote in her Feb. 24 ruling.”

“In February 2025, Judge Kelly Rankin revoked the drafting attorney’s pro hac vice admission and fined him $3,000, with $1,000 each for the supervising partner and local counsel who e-signed the filing without reading it.”

“The Judge cited the “growing problem” of false citations in documents prepared using generative AI tools.”

“Sanctions were warranted against Becker for “his failure to verify the validity of the AI-generated material, and submitting the AI-tainted Motion to the court,” the judge said.”

“two disturbing developments that are adversely affecting the practice of law”

“As this case has unfortunately made clear, generative AI is still no substitute for the professional expertise that the justice system requires of lawyers.”

““The use of ChatGPT was not disclosed to the Court.””

“Judge P. Kevin Castel sanctioned Schwartz, co-counsel Peter LoDuca, and their firm $5,000.”

“The summaries of the decisions cited in the brief showed “stylistic and reasoning flaws that do not generally appear in decisions issued by United States Courts of Appeals.””

“the result, said the judge, was “gibberish””