AI tools like Claude, Chat GPT and others are being misused and creating fictitious cases and quotes in legal filings in Oregon and the rest of the U.S. Photo taken April 28, 2026.
Allison Frost / OPB
Oregon’s high court struck down parts of two cases with AI-generated fabricated citations Friday, marking the first time the state’s Supreme Court has addressed false information from artificial intelligence.
Experts across the country are sounding the alarm over lawyers and individuals who represent themselves in court increasingly using AI products that make up false citations or quotes. Researchers estimate more than 1,000 cases have inaccuracies due to AI tools.
Some of those cases are making national headlines. Last summer, lawyers representing the chief executive for bedding manufacturer MyPillow were fined $3,000 each in federal court for using AI to submit filings with dozens of mistakes. In Oregon, a lawyer was fined a steep $110,000 in district court, considered the highest penalty yet.
But this is the first time the Oregon Supreme Court has addressed the issue.
“We recognize that AI products may seem like an appealing short-cut to legal research and presenting legal arguments,” Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court Meagan A. Flynn said Friday in a statement about the rulings. “But when the court has to spend considerable time and effort addressing fabricated legal arguments, it comes at the expense of other cases.”
Related: Unethical AI use in legal filings on the rise in Oregon and the US, along with penalties
In the first case the court addressed, justices dismissed a petition for a writ of mandamus. The plaintiffs in the case submitted supporting documents using LegalAI that cited previous cases that don’t exist, and included fake quotes. When asked to resubmit the paperwork, it still included AI-generated falsehoods.
“Rather than taking the time necessary to ensure that they did not compound the burdens on the court, however,” the justices wrote in their order that less than 12 hours after receiving the order, plaintiffs dug a deeper hole by filing “a declaration that included citations to at least four cases that do not exist in the Oregon Appellate Reports or the Oregon Reports.”
In the other case, the respondent filed a document that referred to legal arguments that couldn’t be verified in Oregon case law. The high court fined the respondent $500 and is allowing them to resubmit the document.
Ankur Doshi, General Counsel of the Oregon State Bar, told OPB’s “Think Out Loud" in April that AI fabrications are being found in documents submitted by lawyers, as well as in submissions from individuals who are representing themselves in court. Oftentimes, the person doesn’t know that AI is generating fake cases, and it takes time and resources for the court to figure out what happened.
“That’s one of the primary factors that’s extremely aggravating about this,” Doshi said. “Because these citations are fabricated, it does create additional work for the court to have to go back and check it. But in addition to that, it creates additional work for opposing counsel on it, which can result in higher attorneys’ fees for the opposing side on it.”
