Incident Tracker

Cassata v. Michael Macrina Architect, P.C., 2026 NY Slip Op 26014

sanctions

A New York trial court fined an associate and her supervising partner $1,000 each (to the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection) and ordered the firm to pay $8,000 in fees after an opposition brief plagiarized from an AI-generated filing containing nonexistent cases and quotations. The court struck the opposition but declined to refer counsel to bar discipline.

Date of decision/order

2026-01-27

Court

New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County

Jurisdiction

US-STATE

AI tool

generative AI (AI-enhanced Westlaw)

Conduct

Defense counsel filed an opposition containing nonexistent cases, fake quotations, and unsupported propositions largely plagiarized from another firm's AI-generated brief; the supervising partner and firm failed to supervise. Counsel denied using AI and the court disbelieved her.

Consequence

USD 10,000