Judge sanctions lawyers defending Alabama’s prison system for using fake ChatGPT cases in filings

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge reprimanded lawyers with a high-priced firm defending Alabama’s prison system for using ChatGPT to write court filings with “completely made up” case citations.

U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco publicly reprimanded three lawyers with Butler Snow, the law firm hired to defend Alabama and other jurisdictions in lawsuits against their prison systems. The order sanctioned William R. Lunsford, the head of the firm division that handles prison litigation, along with Matthew B. Reeves and William J. Cranford.

“Fabricating legal authority is serious misconduct that demands a serious sanction,” Manasco wrote in the Wednesday sanctions order.

Manasco removed the three from participating in the case where the false citations were filed and directed them to share the sanctions order with clients, opposing lawyers and judges in all of their other cases. She also referred the matter to the Alabama State Bar for possible disciplinary action.

Butler Snow is representing Alabama in multiple lawsuits involving its prison system. Alabama has paid Lunsford and his firm more than $40 million since 2020, according to state spending records.

Butler Snow lawyers had repeatedly apologized during an earlier hearing before Manasco. They said an attorney used artificial intelligence to research supporting case law but did not verify the information before adding it to two filings with the federal court. Those citations turned out to be “hallucinations” — meaning incorrect citations — by the AI system.

“In simpler terms, the citations were completely made up,” Manasco wrote. She added that using the citations without verifying their accuracy was “recklessness in the extreme.”

The filings in question were made in a lawsuit filed by an inmate who was stabbed on multiple occasions at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. The lawsuit alleges that prison officials are failing to keep inmates safe.