Docket entry 131, 19 December 2025 · source · PDF · 3 pages
Docket text. ORDER re: 130 125 Hallucinated Case Citation. Signed by Judge Julie Rebecca Rubin on 12/19/2025. (ols, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 12/19/2025)
(ECF No. 125.) Plaintiffs filed a response to the court’s order advising that Plaintiffs’ counsel could not locate the case in question and requesting five days to investigate the matter and provide an explanation to the court ; the court granted that request. (ECF No.
June 2, 2020). 2 Collins’s ChatGPT inquiry supplied the “hallucinated” 2 case citatio n along with other materials, which he then provided to another attorney that ultimately drafted Plaintiffs’ Response pursuant to a co-counsel agreement. Id.
To be sanctionable, a legal argument must have “absolutely no chance of success under the existing precedent.” Hunter, 281 F.3d at 153. “Rule 11 requires a district court to order counsel ‘to show cause why conduct specifically described in the order has not violated Rule 11(b)’ prior to imposing sua sponte sanctions in order to allow counsel to respond to specific asserted Rule 11 violations.” In re 2 “Fake or nonexistent legal citations typically are the result of AI ‘hallucinations.’” Mezu v. Mezu, No.
11 advisory committee’s note to 1993 amendments ). “ Courts within the Fourth Circuit have issued sua sponte show cause orders where a party appears to have ‘ cited to fictitious cases and misrepresented the holding of various cases ’ in a filing. ” Neal v. Frayer , No.
In this discrete instance, the court will not issue a Rule 11 show cause order as to Mr. Collins’s citation to a hallucinated case. The court observes that Mr.
Moreover, the court is satisfied that display of this error on the public docket serves as ampl e deterrent again st future conduct of this nature. That notwithstanding, the court advises that should Plaintiffs’ counsel engage in similar conduct in the future (i.e., citation to hallucinated authorities or the like), the court will issue an order to show cause why he should not face sanctions under Rule 11 and/or attorney misconduct referral. December 19, 2025 /s/ Julie R.