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ARTICLE · 16 MARCH 2026

Court Sanctions Highlight Potential Risks Of Using Unchecked AI In Litigation

Greenberg Traurig
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In February, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York issued case-ending sanctions against an attorney who failed to "learn from his mistakes" and repeatedly submitted filings containing false...

United StatesTechnology
Kathryn C. Cole
Kathryn C. Cole

In February, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York issued case-ending sanctions against an attorney who failed to "learn from his mistakes" and repeatedly submitted filings containing false, AI-generated citations to the court. The judge emphasized in her order that while she does not oppose using AI to help with research and writing, she "must take a stand where, as here, counsel repeatedly file[d] submissions with false citations" because counsel refused to comply with his ethical obligations and verify his submissions.

In Flycatcher Corp. Ltd. et al. v. Affable Avenue LLC et al., Judge Katherine Polk Failla issued a decision and order spanning more than 30 pages that may serve as a cautionary tale about the risks of using AI in litigation. In the decision, Failla discussed several instances in which the attorney filed documents containing references to nonexistent cases or misattributed quotes and observed that the attorney was clearly undeterred

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