Lawyers fined after filing a brief full of court cases ChatGPT made up

Company: Levidow, Levidow & Oberman (lawyers for the plaintiff in Mata v. Avianca)
Regulator or court: US District Court, Southern District of New York
Law: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 and the court's inherent power
Status: Final

What happened

In a personal injury claim against the airline Avianca, the plaintiff's lawyers filed a brief that relied on six court decisions that did not exist. One lawyer had used ChatGPT for research and did not check the results, and the lawyers kept standing by the citations after the airline and the judge raised doubts. Judge P. Kevin Castel found they had acted in bad faith and sanctioned them.

Sources

Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023) – summary Hinshaw & Culbertson – sanctions hearing alert

Summary in our own words. General information, not legal advice.

What happened

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