Attorneys Sanctioned Because of AI-Fabricated Case Citations

Three attorneys representing a plaintiff suing Walmart in Wadsworth v. Walmart Inc. in a Wyoming Federal court have been sanctioned for citing eight non-existent precedents generated by AI in a court filing.

In his article in the UK-based National Technology News, editor and reporter Jonathan Easton, citing court documents, notes that US judges have questioned or disciplined attorneys in at least nine other cases over the past two years. 

The most severe penalty in the Wyoming case was imposed on an attorney from Morgan & Morgan, the largest personal injury firm in the US. He was fined $3000 and removed from the case for filing motions in limine that contained eight fake or erroneous case citations.

Two other attorneys, one from Morgan & Morgan and the son of the firm’s founder and the other from Goody Law Group, were fined $1000 each. 

The judge found that the attorneys’ use of AI had violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and that it required that lawyers certify that their contentions were warranted by law. However, in his imposition of sanction, he also acknowledged their apologies and transparency after the errors came to light, which is said to have mitigated their punishment. 

Wadsworth v. Walmart is a product liability case in which Walmart and Jetson Electric Bikes are alleged to have sold a defective hoverboard that caused a house fire. The case will go to trial next month. 

Easton says this case highlights a new risk for lawyers as they begin to use artificial intelligence. Morgan & Morgan said it had implemented additional policies requiring users to verify AI-generated information before using it.