Northern District of Alabama U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco sanctioned three Butler Snow attorneys on Wednesday over their role in submitting court filings created by ChatGPT in litigation defending the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The attorneys had previously apologized to the court and described the episode as an "isolated event."
Manasco publicly reprimanded Matthew Reeves, William Cranford, and William Lunsford. Lunsford is a contract deputy Alabama Attorney General, who has been paid tens of millions of dollars to defend the state in various lawsuits against the Department of Corrections. Manasco disqualified the trio from further participation in the case.
A copy of Manasco's order on Wednesday will be sent to the Alabama State Bar "for further proceedings as appropriate."
Manasco said in her order, "Fabricating legal authority is serious misconduct that demands a serious sanction. In the court's view, it demands substantially greater accountability than the reprimands and modest fines that have become common as courts confront this form of AI misuse."
"Like Mr. Cranford and Mr. Reeves, Mr. Lunsford simply assumed the truth of what was in the draft, and/or assumed that someone else would check on that," Manasco said in the order on Wednesday. "This is the same indifference to the truth and complete personal disinterest in the most basic professional responsibility that Mr. Cranford displayed. Particularly in the light of Mr. Lunsford's roles as practice group leader, supervisory attorney, and partner — and the reality that he is the only lawyer on the team entrusted with the necessary deputy attorney general designation — this utter disregard for the truth of filings bearing his name in the signature block is particularly egregious, more than mere recklessness and tantamount to bad faith. To be clear, the court's finding in this regard is not simply a harsh inference: when it became apparent that multiple motions with his name in the signature block contained fabricated citations, Mr. Lunsford's nearly immediate response was to try to skip the show cause hearing and leave the mess for someone else. And when the court compelled him to appear at the hearing, he paired his apology with an explanation in greater fullness of how very little work he personally puts in to be sure that his team's motions tell the truth. This cannot be how litigators, particularly seasoned ones, practice in federal court or run their teams. Accordingly, the court will impose an appropriate sanction under its inherent authority."
Manasco continued, "Having considered these cases carefully, the court finds that a fine and public reprimand are insufficient here. If fines and public embarrassment were effective deterrents, there would not be so many cases to cite. And in any event, fines do not account for the extreme dereliction of professional responsibility that fabricating citations reflects, nor for the many harms it causes."
"In any event, a fine would not rectify the egregious misconduct in this case," Manasco said. "The court finds that (1) a public reprimand paired with a limited publication requirement, (2) disqualification, and (3) referral to applicable licensing authorities are necessary to rectify the misconduct here and vindicate judicial authority. Disqualification fits well: lawyers should know that if they make false statements in court proceedings, they will no longer have the professional opportunity to participate in those proceedings. Similarly, litigants should have assurance that false statements will not be allowed in their cases, and no court should be required to allow an attorney responsible for making false statements in the proceedings to continue in the proceedings. Likewise, a public reprimand with limited publication fits: it makes other clients, counsel, and courts aware of the lawyer's misconduct so that they may assess whether any measures are needed to protect their proceedings. Finally, the referral to licensing authorities is a bare minimum in the light of the primary nature of a lawyer's professional responsibility not to make things up."
Federal Judge Disqualifies Three Attorneys by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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