A lawyer used ChatGPT for legal research and cited a number of cases in a filing. The problem is that none of these cases actually exist (AI just made them up), and he is now in big trouble with the judge.
The US Lawyer was representing a man who sued an airline. The man, named Roberto Mata sued Avianca Airlines for alleged injuries. This was the normal part of the court case
However, Roberto’s lawyers submitted a brief citing fake cases, with bogus quotes.
Mr. Mata’s lawyer submitted a 10-page brief that cited more than half a dozen relevant court decisions.
There was Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines, and, of course, Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, with its learned discussion of federal law and “the tolling effect of the automatic stay on a statute of limitations.”
He went ahead with this as ChatGPT assured him were all real.
Needless to say, neither the airline’s lawyers nor the judge could find…
