AI Hallucination Cases

This database tracks legal decisions1 I.e., all documents where the use of AI, whether established or merely alleged, is addressed in more than a passing reference by the court or tribunal.

Notably, this does not cover mere allegations of hallucinations, but only cases where the court or tribunal has explicitly found (or implied) that a party relied on hallucinated content or material.

As an exception, the database also covers some judicial decisions where AI use was alleged but not confirmed. This is a judgment call on my part.
in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content – typically fake citations, but also other types of AI-generated arguments. It does not track the (necessarily wider) universe of all fake citations or use of AI in court filings.

While seeking to be exhaustive (1313 cases identified so far), it is a work in progress and will expand as new examples emerge. This database has been featured in news media, and indeed in several decisions dealing with hallucinated material.2 Examples of media coverage include:
- M. Hiltzik, AI 'hallucinations' are a growing problem for the legal profession (LA Times, 22 May 2025)
- E. Volokh, "AI Hallucination Cases," from Courts All Over the World (Volokh Conspiracy, 18 May 2025)
- J-.M. Manach, "Il génère des plaidoiries par IA, et en recense 160 ayant « halluciné » depuis 2023" (Next, 1 July 2025) - J. Koebler & J. Roscoe, "18 Lawyers Caught Using AI Explain Why They Did It (404 Media, 30 September 2025)

If you have any questions about the database, a FAQ is available here.
And if you know of a case that should be included, feel free to contact me.3 (Readers may also be interested in this project regarding AI use in academic papers.)

Based on this database, I have developped an automated reference checker that also detects hallucinations: PelAIkan. Check the Reports Report icon in the database for examples, and reach out to me for a demo !

For weekly takes on cases like these, and what they mean for legal practice, subscribe to Artificial Authority.

State
Party
Nature – Category
Nature – Subcategory

Case Court / Jurisdiction Date ▼ Party Using AI AI Tool Nature of Hallucination Outcome / Sanction Monetary Penalty Details Report(s)
Joel A. Rivera v. Triad Properties Corporation, et al. N.D. Alabama (USA) 31 March 2026 Lawyer ChatGPT
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Misrepresented Case Law (3)
Public Reprimand; Disqualification; Bar Referral; Publication and Notice of Order; Adverse Costs Order 35603 USD
Source: Volokh
Feldman & Trost v. District 6 Board of Education C.D. Illinois (USA) 31 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Warning
Leonard Colbert v. County of Riverside C.D. California (USA) 31 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1), Legal Norm (1)
Admonishment
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Mohamed Hussain et al. v. Mansoor Quraishi et al. SC Connecticut (USA) 31 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Orde to Explain
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Danuta Dec v. Homeland Security 7th Cir. CA (USA) 30 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Admonishment
Source: Robert Freund
Jacobs v. Payward, Inc. D. Connecticut (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Admonishment
Yves Hector Vimegnon v. Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. D. Oregon (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Warning
Nicole Olbera, et al. v. Tiara Sykes CA Indiana (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Warning
Edward Reynolds v. Progressive Technologies, Inc. W.D. Tennessee (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Warning
Megan E. Bryan v. Child Support Enforcement Agency, State of Hawaiʻi SC Hawaiʻi (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Warning
Shaun Fleck v. Del-One Federal Credit Union D. Oregon (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Warning
76 Route 6 Holdings Inc. v. Town of Yorktown, NY S.D. New York (USA) 30 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Admonishment
Beedemariam Kassaw v. Wal-Mart Corporation W.D. New York (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Brief Struck
Ezequiel Cunha de Moura e outro v. Wallace de Moura Silva TJ-RJ (Brazil) 30 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Bar Referral
Randel Edward Page, Jr. v. Apperson Crump W.D. Tennessee (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (3)
Warning
Williams v. Chicago Board Of Education N.D. Illinois (USA) 30 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Order to Explain
Souza v. City of Fitchburg D. Massachusetts (USA) 30 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Exhibits or Submissions (1)
Warning
Amtrust North America o/b/o Justin McGinness v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company SC New Jersey (USA) 27 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (4)
Monetary Sanction; Adverse Costs; CLE (recommended) 9000 USD
Source: Robert Freund
McCarthy v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration CA Third Circuit (USA) 27 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Reprimand; Notification to other courts and the National Disciplinary Data Bank
Source: Robert Freund
Andrea K. Tantaros v. Fox News Network, LLC, et al. S.D. New York (USA) 27 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (7), Legal Norm (2)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Warning
Source: Volokh
Pizzimenti v. City of Detroit, et al. E.D. Michigan (USA) 27 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (3)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Warning
Patrick C. Shaltry, I v. Brent Benzing, et al. E.D. Michigan (USA) 27 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Warning
Lauren K. Morgan v. Michael P. Whitticom SC Connecticut (USA) 27 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Warning

The court found the defendant's post-judgment motion likely generated with AI assistance and containing numerous fictitious or inapplicable citations. The court identified specific miscitation(s) and characterized the submission as 'riddled with fake citations and legal proposition[s].' The court declined to impose a sanction now but warned the pro se defendant that future similar filings may result in sanctions under Connecticut Practice Book § 4-2(b).

Source: Jesse Schaefer
William C. Maxwell v. Dakota Michael & Chelsey Smith S.D. Indiana (USA) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Referral to Magistrate
Report
Plaintiff's Rebuttal
Anthony Wallace v. PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, et al. D. Nevada (USA) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (5)
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Warning
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Mission Critical Project Services, Inc. GAO (USA) 26 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Warning
Source: David Timm
The Advocates for Human Rights and L.H.M. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al. D. Minnesota (USA) 26 March 2026 Implied
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Report
ICE's Memorandum in Opposition
Curry v. Capital One Auto Finance E.D. North Carolina (USA) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1), Legal Norm (1)
Leave to amend denied

The court found the plaintiff's proposed amended complaints included fabricated legal authorities — including fictitious provisions of a purported North Carolina Identity Theft Protection Act and other fabricated citations — and concluded the filings were likely drafted with AI. The court denied leave to amend as futile and constituted bad faith due to the fabricated citations, and granted defendant's motion to dismiss.

State National Insurance Company, Inc. v. Damon Treadwell, et al. N.D. Alabama (USA) 26 March 2026 Lawyer ChatGPT; OpenCase
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Public reprimand; Order Notification
Dixon v. MultiCare Health System W.D. Washington (USA) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Misrepresented Case Law (2)
Warning
Baker v. Rastelli Foods LLC D. New Jersey (USA) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Order to provide PDF copies of cited case; Order to Show Cause
Guerin v. O'Doherty Court of Appeal (Ireland) (Ireland) 26 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Warning
Coomer v. Lindell/MyPillow, Inc. (2) D. Colorado (USA) 25 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Show Cause Order
Elilton Alves Gouveia v. Meridian Financial Investments CA Florida (4th) (USA) 25 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (4)
Warning (and a limerick)

The limerick in question:


"There once was a litigant pro se,

Who let an AI lead the way.

It briefed every claim,

Cited cases—by name,

That vanished by morning’s next day."

Hong Chris Lu v. Capital One, N.A., et al. N.D. Ohio (USA) 25 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (2)
Factor in dismissing the case with prejudice
Fecteau v. Safety National Casualty Corporation S.D. New York (USA) 25 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Legal Norm (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Michael A. DeVita v. Midtown Motors, et al. M.D. Alabama (USA) 25 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (3)
Case dismissed without prejudice
Jared Ashcraft v. First-Citizens Bank and Trust Company, et al. C.D. California (USA) 25 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Warning
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Kevin Lee Biglow v. Dell Technologies Inc. CA Tenth Circuit (USA) 24 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (5)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Warning
Segui v. Moniz D. Arizona (USA) 24 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Order to Show Cause
Jorge A. Zea v. National Association of REALTORS S.D. Florida (USA) 24 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Unidentified
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1), Doctrinal Work (1)
Warning
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Couvrette v. Wisnovsky Oregon (USA) 23 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
Briefs struck; Monetary sanction (15.5k); Adverse costs order (94.7k); claims dismissed with prejudice 109700 USD
Report
Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Judgments

Order to show cause is here. Final judgment on costs is here. Final Opinion and Order is here. (Defendants prevailed partly because brief full of hallucinated material had been struck.)

Iyer v Nazir CA Alberta (Canada) 23 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Warning
Jane Doe, et al. v. Lincoln Consolidated Schools, et al. E.D. Michigan (USA) 23 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Adverse Costs Order
Stafford v. Andrew Taffet, et al. D. Oregon (USA) 23 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Fabricated Case Law (5)
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Gregory Hardy v. K. Jones, et al. E.D. Michigan (USA) 23 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Unidentified
False Quotes Case Law (2)
Warning
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Nicholas and Barbara Moulder v. Davis School District (on behalf of M.M.) D. Utah (USA) 23 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (2)
False Quotes Case Law (1)
CLE; Monetary Sanction 1525 USD
Source: Jesse Schaefer
Singh v. Director of the Residential Tenancy Branch SC British Columbia (Canada) 23 March 2026 Pro Se Litigant Implied
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Source: Courtready
Ben-Cohen v. Municipality of Ramat Gan Supreme Court (Israel) 22 March 2026 Lawyer Implied
Fabricated Case Law (4), Legal Norm (1)
Adverse Costs Order 30000 ILS

The municipality relied on non-existent legal authorities (an invented Ministry of Education Director-General Circular and several fabricated or incorrectly quoted court decisions) in its reply to the appellant and in court pleadings. The Supreme Court found these to be the product of uncontrolled AI use, accepted the appeal on that basis and ordered costs of 30,000 ILS against the municipality.

Kibbutz Beit Nir v. Ronen Marciano National Labor Court (Israel) 22 March 2026 Lawyer Unidentified
Fabricated Case Law (1)
Misrepresented Case Law (1)
Monetary Penalty 2500 ILS