news briefAI in CourtsAI Governance
Florida court orders lawyer to show cause over suspected AI filings
Florida's Fourth District ordered counsel to explain suspected AI-generated filings in a family-law writ case, with possible sanctions or bar referral.
Edited and verified by Cognesio LLP
Researched with AI assistance · sources verified by Cognesio LLP · How this was made ↓
Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal ordered a lawyer to show cause over suspected AI-generated filings on 16 September 2026, after denying an emergency writ petition in a family-law case.
In Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, petitioner’s counsel Jaclyn R. Soroka filed an emergency writ petition and related filings the court suspected contained AI-generated components, including convoluted false arguments but no fake citations. The court denied relief and ordered counsel to show cause within ten days why sanctions, including Florida Bar referral, should not issue.
What the court said
The case was not a false-citation order. The court said at the outset: “The AI slop problem we address here has nothing to do with hallucinated law or false legal citations” (opinion, p. 1 n.1). Its concern was a 61-page emergency petition, a 33-page motion to disqualify the trial judge, and related filings that the court said were confusing, false in places and abusive of emergency procedure.
Judge Gross wrote that the court suspected counsel’s filings contained AI-generated components (opinion, p. 2). One example was a motion-to-disqualify argument that the filing of the motion automatically stayed all trial-court proceedings. The opinion described that as an argument “often seen in AI hallucinations” and rejected it as mistaken (opinion, p. 7).
The court also linked the filing problem to professional responsibility. It said counsel’s conduct implicated Florida Bar rules on competence, meritorious claims, expediting litigation, candour and fees, and added: “It takes almost no skill and little time to generate AI slop” (opinion, p. 15).
What happens next
The petition was denied. The sanctions issue remains open. The court ordered Jaclyn R. Soroka to respond within ten days, “without the use of AI,” and explain why sanctions, including a possible Florida Bar referral, should not be imposed for submitting frivolous filings (opinion, p. 15).
The order matters for the tracker because it separates two kinds of AI misuse. Courts have already sanctioned lawyers and litigants for fake authorities; the sanctions ledger prices those orders. This order says filings can still draw sanctions scrutiny when the citations are real but the legal work appears to have been generated without independent professional judgment.
Record: Lisandrillo v. Palozzi.