Sixth Circuit Sanctioned Lawyers in Whiting v. City of Athens over Alleged Fake Appellate Citations in Briefs Reportedly Bearing Hallmarks of Hallucinations
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sanctioned attorneys Van Irion and Russ Egli after reportedly finding more than two dozen fake citations and alleged factual misrepresentations in appellate briefs in Whiting v. City of Athens. The court asked whether generative AI had been used, but the attorneys reportedly did not answer that question. Public reporting described the filings as bearing hallmarks of AI hallucinations.
- Date it happened
- 2026-03-13
- Organisation involved
- Van Irion, Russ Egli
- Product, system or model
- Unknown generative AI systems, Large language models
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