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Oregon appeals court chief judge warns of rising AI-generated fake citations in legal filings

Oregon's Court of Appeals is tracking staff time lost to AI-generated fake citations as the problem grows. Fines have reached $10,000 per attorney, with two federal attorneys hit with a $110,000 penalty.

1 min read
Legal

The Oregon Court of Appeals is tracking time spent addressing fake legal citations and case law generated by artificial intelligence, Chief Judge Erin C. Lagesen said Wednesday. The court has begun documenting how much staff and judicial resources these erroneous filings consume as the problem worsens.

Lagesen's public warning follows multiple cases where attorneys submitted briefs containing fabricated case citations, false quotations, and invented legal propositions. The filings came from both licensed attorneys and self-represented litigants.

Recent sanctions and penalties

The Oregon Court of Appeals fined an attorney $10,000 in March for submitting at least 15 fabricated case citations in a marijuana licensing dispute. Another attorney received an $8,000 fine after filing a brief with fabricated quotations and false legal propositions attributed to real cases.

In federal court, two attorneys faced a $110,000 penalty for briefs containing citations to non-existent cases and fabricated quotations.

What constitutes a violation

The court's guidance identifies specific types of false information that trigger sanctions:

  • Citations to cases that do not exist
  • Quotations that do not appear in the cited case
  • Factual support invented without basis in the case record

Judges can strike filings from the record and impose monetary penalties, award attorney fees to the opposing party, or dismiss an appeal entirely.

Verification requirements

To avoid penalties, attorneys using AI must verify every case citation and quotation independently. Paraphrases must be objectively reasonable given what the case actually says.

The Oregon State Bar released guidance last year requiring attorneys to take "reasonable steps to become competent" with AI tools before using them. The bar noted that competence is an ongoing obligation, as AI tools and their associated risks continue to change.

Learn more about AI for Legal professionals and how to implement AI responsibly in legal practice.

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