{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0492","record_version":1,"title":"Attorney sanctioned for filing brief with AI-generated hallucinations","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":42.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.56,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"6cb6018dc9b3692a62b6b5e672bee33cc2a5af3fe0e4d1cc3f2967b70fd0d765"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-04-27","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"An attorney, Raja Rajan, used an AI chatbot to write a brief filed in federal court in a business dispute where he represented his brother. He asked a different bot to verify the citations. Opposing counsel noticed six false citations and notified the court. Rajan's review found five citations with errors and one case that did not exist. A federal judge sanctioned him $5,000, a second AI-related sanction after an earlier $2,500 penalty. Rajan said the error was his and that he took a shortcut.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK14"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/ai-legal-research-court-filings-halluciations-sanctions-court-20260427.html","publisher":"Inquirer.com","date":"2026-04-27","type":"press","title":"A federal judge sanctioned a Cherry Hill attorney for filing a brief with AI hallucinations, again - Inquirer.com","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","context.country":"C","impact.severity":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It was an AI hallucination."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations, and notified the court."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"U.S. District Judge Kai N. Scott sanctioned Rajan $5,000 last week."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations, and notified the court."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"He wrote it using an AI chatbot, Rajan said, and asked a different bot to verify the citations were accurate."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations, and notified the court."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Five citations had errors, and one case cited didn’t exist at all."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"U.S. District Judge Kai N. Scott sanctioned Rajan $5,000 last week."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Just over a year ago, Scott ordered him to pay $2,500 for relying on AI to write two motions, and sent him to continuing legal education classes."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"“It’s definitely my fault,” Rajan said."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not state the year of the Feb. 20 filing, the specific chatbot model used (the attorney did not recall whether it was Claude, ChatGPT or Grok), the intended use or autonomy of the tool, any date of detection, or any remediation by the attorney beyond an appeal of a separate fee order. The chatbot was not described as an autonomous agent, so agent_involved is recorded as false and no failure class is given. The root cause as oversight, the responsible party as deployer, and the minor severity tier are my judgements from the attorney's own admissions and the facts stated; opposing counsel's involvement was treated as not causing material third-party harm. The sanction against the attorney is not treated as a loss figure. The Third Circuit case and the Sullivan & Cromwell matter are other incidents and were excluded. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"caught","text":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations and notified the court.","quote":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations, and notified the court.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The federal judge sanctioned the attorney $5,000.","quote":"U.S. District Judge Kai N. Scott sanctioned Rajan $5,000 last week.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/ai-legal-research-court-filings-halluciations-sanctions-court-20260427.html"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Earlier sanction of $2,500 for relying on AI to write two motions, with continuing legal education ordered.","quote":"Just over a year ago, Scott ordered him to pay $2,500 for relying on AI to write two motions, and sent him to continuing legal education classes.","source_index":0,"when":"Just over a year ago"},{"text":"Brief with AI-generated false citations filed in federal court.","quote":"The Cherry Hill attorney was pressed for time so he says he took a “shortcut” when he wrote a brief that was filed in federal court on Feb. 20.","source_index":0,"when":"Feb. 20"},{"text":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations and notified the court.","quote":"Opposing counsel noticed six false citations, and notified the court.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Judge sanctioned the attorney $5,000 for the AI hallucinations.","quote":"U.S. District Judge Kai N. Scott sanctioned Rajan $5,000 last week.","source_index":0,"when":"last week"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/ai-legal-research-court-filings-halluciations-sanctions-court-20260427.html"]}}