Judge disqualifies three Butler Snow attorneys from case over AI citations
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco in a Wednesday order, opens new tab reprimanded the lawyers at the Mississippi-founded firm for making false statements in court and referred the issue to the Alabama State Bar, which handles attorney disciplinary matters. Manasco did not impose monetary sanctions, as some judges have done in other cases across the country involving AI use.
Fabricating legal authority "demands substantially greater accountability than the reprimands and modest fines that have become common as courts confront this form of AI misuse," Manasco said. "As a practical matter, time is telling us – quickly and loudly – that those sanctions are insufficient deterrents."
The case is the latest example of a judge sanctioning or admonishing lawyers as AI-generated "hallucinations" have continued to crop up in court filings ever since ChatGPT and other generative AI programs became widely available. Professional rules require lawyers to vet their work however it is produced.
The three Butler Snow lawyers were part of a team defending former Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn in an inmate's lawsuit alleging he was repeatedly attacked in prison. Dunn has denied wrongdoing.
The judge said the three lawyers' conduct was "tantamount to bad faith." She sanctioned partner Matthew Reeves, who admitted to using AI to generate the citations and including them in the filings without verification. Reeves in a May filing apologized to the court and said he regretted his "lapse in diligence and judgment."
She also disqualified partners William Cranford and William Lunsford, who each signed their names onto the filings. The lawyers said in May filings that they did not independently review the legal citations that were added.
Reeves, Cranford and Lunsford did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The judge declined to sanction Butler Snow, finding the firm "acted reasonably in its efforts to prevent this misconduct and doubled down on its precautionary and responsive measures when its nightmare scenario unfolded."
The firm previously warned its attorneys about the risks of AI and escalated the issue after the court issued an order for the lawyers to explain what happened in the case. Butler Snow also mounted an internal investigation and retained another firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, for an independent review to verify citations in 40 other cases, the judge said.
A Butler Snow spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did one of the lawyers representing plaintiff Frankie Johnson, or a lawyer from the Alabama attorney general's office, which had appointed Lunsford to litigate on behalf of the state, according to the order.
The judge ordered the three lawyers to share a copy of the order with their clients, opposing lawyers and judges in other pending state or federal cases in which they are involved, and also to every lawyer at Butler Snow.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Group confronted suspect who stabbed 11 at a Michigan Walmart, video shows
Several passersby helped apprehend a knife-wielding suspect who stabbed 11 people at a Walmart in Michigan, video has revealed. Footage circulating on social media showed several citizens in Traverse City confronting a 42-year old man outside the supermarket on Saturday during the attack. Among the people confronting the suspect included an armed citizen who could be seen pointing his gun at the man. 'Throw it away!' some of the passerby could be heard yelling, with others saying: 'Put it down!' and 'Get on the fucking ground.' One passerby could be seen pushing a shopping cart towards the suspect. Moments later, law enforcement could be seen arriving on scene and arresting the man. Speaking to Channel2Now, Walmart employee Tasha Nash said: 'It was a guy with a knife – people were screaming and running in all directions … I saw someone stabbed in the eye.' Another shopper, Kathryn Ann Clark, told the outlet and her friend's son and another shopper helped confront the suspect. 'It was definitely a stabbing,' Clark said, adding: 'There were no shots fired, just brave people stepping in.' Eleven victims were treated at the nearby Munson Medical Center. On Sunday, the hospital said that there were 'encouraging signs of recovery' among the victims. According to the hospital, seven people are in fair condition and four are in serious condition. There are no longer any patients from the attack who are in critical condition, the hospital added. In a statement released on Sunday, the hospital said: 'Our dedicated team of physicians, surgeons, nurses, clinicians, and support staff remain focused on providing a healing environment for all those affected by this tragic incident … Additionally, we are working on providing additional emotional support for our employees in light of this incident. We extend our continued support to the victims and their families during this very difficult time.' Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said that she was aware of the attack, writing on X: 'Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence. I am grateful to the first responders for their swift response to apprehend the suspect.'
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell coming clean on Epstein case would be ‘a great service to the country'
Speaker Mike Johnson called on Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, to come clean and told Americans that he "hoped" she could be trusted as he faces the growing uproar around the White House's handling of the investigation. Johnson appeared Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, where moderator Kristen Welker asked him point-blank if the convicted sex-trafficker girlfriend of Epstein could be trusted to accurately testify about the crimes she and Epstein committed. Epstein was awaiting prosecution for sex trafficking underage girls after a previous conviction on similar charges when he died in federal custody. Maxwell has been thrust back into the spotlight as the MAGA base has grown frustrated with President Donald Trump and his administration's shutting down of the so-called Epstein files release. Last week, a top Department of Justice official met with Maxwell about the case. "Well, I mean, look; it's a good question. I hope so," Johnson told Welker in response. "I hope that she would want to come clean." "I hope she's telling the truth. She is convicted, she's serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking. Her character is in some if she wants to come clean now, that would be a great service to the country. We want to know every bit of information that she has." The House Oversight Committee voted this week to issue a subpoena for Maxwell after the Justice Department announced its own plans to speak with her. Agency officials did so for nine hours between Thursday and Friday, after making a statement seeming to confirm that her testimony hadn't been aggressively sought before. Some have called Maxwell to testify and suggested she should be given a pardon for sharing what she knows about the Epstein case. She was convicted of sexual abuse against minors and sex trafficking for helping Epstein carry out crimes. Johnson touted the Oversight subpoena favorably Sunday, casting it as evidence that GOP leadership supported efforts aimed at transparency. The Trump administration turned speculation about Epstein's death and the so-called 'Client List' of his co-conspirators into a raging wildfire in early July. The Justice Department and FBI published a joint memo explaining that future releases from the files would not take place, and that the list of Epstein's accomplices was not found. Epstein was rumored to have cultivated personal relationships with many powerful men and institutions. Critics of the president have alleged that a cover-up is in the works regarding the Epstein files. Democrats have hammered the president for his reversal, and a pair of scoops from the Wall Street Journal have reported on the president's connections to Epstein, to Trump's fury. The newspaper reported the contents of a message allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday celebration in 2003, including allusions to a shared 'secret' between them. Trump firmly denied authoring the note, and sued the Journal and its reporters in response. A second article from the Journal days later reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation multiple times, thought it was not clear in what context. The White House called that story 'fake' and has repeatedly insinuated that Democrats including Joe Biden tampered with evidence while Trump was out of office. Being mentioned in the files does not mean wrongdoing, and hundreds of names are reportedly included. The lead GOP co-sponsor behind a House resolution that would force the Justice Department to release the entirety of its collected evidence related to Epstein said Sunday that his push was to help the convicted pedophile's victims and would only grow stronger in the coming weeks. Earlier on the same network, Rep. Thomas Massie appeared alongside the resolution's lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Ro Khanna, as the two promoted a resolution that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release 'all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' related to the Epstein and Maxwell investigations. Massie told Welker that 'the release of the Epstein files is emblematic of what Trump ran for' and explained that the president's MAGA base expected results. 'There seems to be a class of people beyond the law, beyond the judicial all thought that when Trump was elected, he would be the bull in the china shop and break that all up,' said Massie. Massie went on to say that the Trump administration had lost his trust on the issue after publicly supporting transparency around the investigation, then doing an abrupt about-face. The administration is now calling on its supporters to move on from the issue and focus on hashing out issues with the 2016 'Russiagate' investigation instead of Epstein. Top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, also spent months calling for the very releases the Justice Department says it won't authorize. 'People who were allegedly working on this weren't sincere in their efforts,' Massie said. 'Somebody should ask Speaker Mike Johnson, why did he recess Congress early so that he didn't have to deal with the Epstein issue?' 'Politics is the art of the doable. There's enough public pressure right now that we can get 218 votes and force this to a vote on the floor,' said Massie. He also firmly rejected a DOJ memo explaining the administration's position against further releases of information from the Epstein files, despite the very public promises of Bondi and others to do the opposite. In the memo, agency officials said that explicit imagery involving children was 'intertwined' throughout the files collected by the Justice Department. Some have said the files should not be released to protect sex-abuse victims of both Maxwell and Epstein. 'That's a straw man [argument],' Massie responded on Sunday, after Welker read part of the memo. 'Ro [Khanna] and I carefully crafted this legislation so that the victims' names would be redacted, and that no child pornography will be released.'
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
PETA sues Maine Lobster Festival saying the steaming of 16,000 live crustaceans is torture
Animal rights group PETA has filed a lawsuit against the Maine Lobster Festival, claiming the event organizers are torturing lobsters by steaming them to eat. The lawsuit, filed July 24 in Knox County Superior Court, claims the festival and the city of Rockland, where the event is held, are acting in violation of Maine law prohibiting the torture and torment of animals, the Penobscot Bay Pilot reported. PETA is asking the court to deem the festival a 'public nuisance' and ban organizers from steaming lobsters on public land, WMTW reported. PETA argues in the suit that the festival is 'one of the most egregious violations of Maine's animal protection statutes occurring anywhere on public land in the state: the systematic torture of approximately 16,000 live, sentient animals at the Maine Lobster Festival held annually at Harbor Park in Rockland, Maine.' The group's attorneys argued that PETA also filed the lawsuit on behalf of Rockland residents who lose access to walkways, public kayaking and canoeing, intertidal lands, and related civic spaces during the festival. "These individuals cannot access public trust resources without encountering and accepting intolerable conditions: the illegal public torture and killing of thousands of individual sentient lobsters via live steaming." In the suit, PETA argues that because lobsters are sentient beings, they are able to feel pain, and should be protected under Maine law, which requires any method used to kill a sentient creature must cause instantaneous death. PETA argues that the lobsters remain neurologically active and can feel the pain, suffering for several minutes when they are steamed. Meanwhile, event organizers say they're going by the books. An event organizer told WMTW they use 'traditional, lawful and widely accepted cooking methods' when steaming lobsters, and that there is no scientific evidence the crustaceans can feel pain. A hearing has not yet been scheduled for PETA's request for an injunction to stop the steaming of the lobsters. The annual event begins July 30, and runs through August 3.
