Four attorneys fined $12,000 combined for AI-fabricated patent case citations

Feb 2026

A federal judge in the District of Kansas fined four attorneys a combined $12,000 for court filings containing AI-generated fabricated legal citations in a patent infringement case. The attorney who used ChatGPT received $5,000; two who failed to review the filings received $3,000 each; local counsel who did not identify errors received $1,000. The judge called the volume of fabricated case law "staggering."

Incident Details

Perpetrator:Attorney

Severity:Facepalm

Blast Radius:Four attorneys sanctioned across a single case; staggering volume of fabricated case law filed with the court; all signatories held personally accountable

Tech Stack

ChatGPT

References

JD Journal: Judge Sanctions Lawyers $12,000 for AI Errors in Patent Case ↗Reuters: Judge Fines Lawyers $12,000 Over AI-Generated Submissions in Patent Case ↗