LOWSafety IncidentACTIVE
AI Incident Database: US appeals court orders lawyer to pay $2,500 over AI hallucinations in brief
April 18, 2026
Incident Summary
A US federal appeals court ordered a lawyer to pay $2,500 after submitting a brief that included AI-generated fictitious case citations and other hallucinated material. The court said it was frustrated that lawyers continue to file documents with fabricated citations and that the problem shows no sign of abating. The incident matters because it can mislead courts, waste judicial resources, and undermine the reliability of legal filings when AI tools are used without adequate verification. Limited public details are available about which AI service was used or additional case specifics beyond the sanction amount and the nature of the hallucinated content.
Incident Details
- Type
- Safety Incident
- Severity
- LOW
- Status
- ACTIVE
- Date Occurred
- April 18, 2026
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