Lawyers for MyPillow CEO fined thousands over error-strewn AI court filing about defamation case
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, ordered two lawyers for Lindell to pay $3,000 each, after they used AI to file a document that cited nonexistent cases and misquoted case law, according to the Colorado Sun.
Judge Nina Wang ruled Monday that Christopher Kachouroff and Jennifer DeMaster violated court rules when they filed the motion, which included almost 30 inaccurate citations.
'Notwithstanding any suggestion to the contrary, this Court derives no joy from sanctioning attorneys who appear before it,' Wang said in her ruling.
She added that the fines were 'the least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.'
Lindell's defamation case came to an end last month when a jury found him liable for defamation after falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
The document filed by the defense in the case misquoted court precedents and emphasized legal principles that weren't connected to the cases cited, the ruling stated.
Kachouroff admitted during a pretrial hearing that he had used AI to write the motion. While he said that the motion was a draft filed by accident, Wang wrote that the final version the lawyer said was the right one still had 'substantive errors,' including several mistakes that were not in the motion originally filed.
Wang said it was the lawyers' 'contradictory statements and the lack of corroborating evidence' that prompted the judge to think the filing of the motion created by generative AI wasn't 'an inadvertent error' and was worthy of a sanction.
Wang also addressed the allegation from Kachouroff that the court was trying to 'blindside' him over the mistakes. The judge said the accusation was 'troubling and not well-taken.'
'Neither Mr. Kachouroff nor Ms. DeMaster provided the Court any explanation as to how those citations appeared in any draft of the Opposition absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel,' said Wang.
The violating motion was filed on February 25 in response to a previous motion by a former director at Dominion Voting Systems, Eric Coomer, who alleged Lindell defamed him by spreading the conspiracy theory that Coomer helped rig the 2020 election.
The federal jury in Denver ruled in favor of Coomer on June 16. The initial lawsuit was filed in May 2022 against Lindell, MyPillow, and FrankSpeech, another company owned by Lindell. He was ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages. Coomer had asked for $62.7 million, USA Today noted.
Wang asked Kachouroff during a pretrial conference if the motion had been 'generated by generative artificial intelligence?'
'Not initially. Initially, I did an outline for myself, and I drafted a motion, and then we ran it through AI,' said Kachouroff.
He told Wang that he had delegated the citation checking to DeMaster, according to the court order.
Wang subsequently asked the attorney if he had double-checked the 'citations once it was run through artificial intelligence?'
'Your Honor, I personally did not check it. I am responsible for it not being checked,' said Kachouroff.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Who is mushroom killer Erin Patterson's dearest bosom buddy? Ali stood by her throughout everything - and was her ONLY friend in court when the jury found her guilty of murder
Apart from Erin Patterson 's own legal team, who were paid to be there, just one person turned up in court every single day to support the triple killer. Alison Rose Prior, known as Ali, has been the most devoted loyal friend Erin - or anyone else - could ever have hoped for. Day after day, regardless of the incriminating evidence, bitter cold or ever-growing media pack, Ms Prior stuck by her friend through thick and thin. And when the jury delivered its damning series of ' verdicts, it was Ms Prior the killer immediately turned to. 'See you soon,' Patterson told her bosom buddy before being led away to begin her likely life sentence behind bars for the three murders and one attempted murder. Ms Prior left the court thronged by media, and as she fought back tears behind large sunglasses, she told reporters: 'I'm saddened.' Escorted by G4S security staff through the precincts of Morwell Law Courts - where the Supreme Court had held Patterson's ten-week trial - Ms Prior battled to keep her composure. 'I didn't have any expectations,' she added. 'It's the justice system and it is what it is.' Patterson was later whisked away to Dame Phyllis Frost prison, 200km away on the other side of Melbourne, far from her Leongatha home in Gippsland. But despite the distance, Ms Prior immediately vowed to remain Patterson's best mate as the mother-of-two now faces decades behind bars. 'I will see her,' Ms Prior defiantly insisted to a reporter's question. 'I'm her friend and I'll see her - I'll visit with her.' Ms Prior begged media to leave her alone so she could get to her car. As a sign of the intensity and closeness of their relationship, Patterson has granted Ms Prior complete power of attorney over her estate, giving her carte blanche over her substantial wealth and property. The pair are believed to have met through Facebook, where Patterson was an avid contributor to several True Crime groups. Ms Prior, who has a daughter with a rare genetic condition, had previously campaigned locally to reform the law on registering sex offenders and to prevent them living near schools. In the weeks after the agonising deaths of her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson - who were fatally poisoned by the beef Wellingtons she laced with death cap mushrooms - Patterson fled her Leongatha home as the net closed in on her. Patterson is said to have bunkered down at Ms Prior's four-bedroom bungalow, set in lush woodlands on the edge of rural Healesville, 65km north-east of Melbourne, as detectives pored over her own home looking for murder clues. Black sheets appeared around Patterson's Leongatha home ahead of the jury's verdict The night before Patterson was finally arrested, she threw a party at her home for Ms Prior and three other close female friends. On the evening of Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Patterson held the knees-up at the Leongatha property for her dwindling inner circle of friends. The weeknight gathering is believed to have been small and included Patterson's two children, a girl and a boy (who can't be identified for legal reasons). But it was still noisy enough that it was noticed by neighbours, who speculated Patterson threw the party in the certain knowledge that those murder charges were imminent. As the jury retired to consider her guilt 18 months later, it was rumoured Patterson would once again return to Ms Prior's home to hide out from the media if she was found innocent. Instead though, the jury unanimously found her guilty - and she was transported by prison van to her new jail cell as one of Australia's most notorious killers. The verdict ends one of the nation's most intriguing homicide cases - and now Patterson likely only has prison visits from Ms Prior to look forward to.
The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife's protein shakes going on trial for murder
Just days before she died after suffering symptoms that mystified her doctors, Angela Craig confronted her husband, James, in their suburban Denver kitchen over his lack of support. In that 2023 argument captured on home surveillance video, she accused him of suggesting to hospital staff that she was suicidal, court documents show. Prosecutors say James Craig caused the ailments that ultimately killed his wife by poisoning her protein shakes and trying to make it look as if she killed herself. His trial on murder and other charges is set to begin Monday with the questioning of potential jurors. Angela Craig, 43, died in March 2023 during her third trip to the hospital that month. Toxicology tests later determined she died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient that is found in over-the-counter eye drops. The couple were married 23 years and had six children. Craig has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury. Police say Craig tried to fabricate evidence to make it appear his wife killed herself The 47-year-old dentist allegedly bought arsenic online around the time his wife began to experience symptoms like dizziness and headaches for which doctors could find no cause, prosecutors say. At the time of his arrest, police said Craig was trying to start a new life amid financial troubles and appeared to be having an affair with a fellow dentist. Prosecutors said he had affairs with two other women, but they have not detailed a motive in his wife's death. Craig's attorneys have argued police were biased against him and claimed testing of his wife's shake containers did not turn up signs of poison. They've questioned the reliability of a jail inmate who said Craig offered him $20,000 to kill the case's lead investigator, an alleged plot for which Craig is also on trial. To avoid being held accountable, prosecutors said, Craig tried to fabricate evidence to make it appear his wife killed herself. He tried to get another fellow inmate to plant fraudulent letters at Craig's home to make it look like his wife was suicidal, prosecutors said. Then, in the weeks before Craig had been set to stand trial in November, prosecutors said he also sent letters to the ex-wife of the inmate he allegedly tried to get to kill the investigator, offering her $20,000 for each person she could find to falsely testify that his wife planned to die by suicide, they said. Previous Craig attorneys withdraw from case As jury selection was about to begin, his lawyer at the time, Harvey Steinberg, asked to withdraw, citing a rule allowing lawyers to step down if a client persists in actions considered criminal or that they disagree with. Another attorney for Craig, Robert Werking, later argued that investigators did not look into whether Craig wrote the letters or check them against his handwriting. Werking also said that the inmate and his ex-wife were prosecuted for forgery for their roles in an alleged fraud ring in 2005, suggesting they could not be trusted. Werking withdrew from the case himself this month after being charged with arson of his own home, leaving his wife and law partner, Lisa Fine Moses, to defend Craig. Werking's attorney, David Beller, said he was getting mental health treatment and asked the public to show him grace. Moses did not immediately return telephone and email messages seeking comment. Prosecutors plan to show video of couple's argument Over the objections of the defense, prosecutors plan to show the video of the argument in the kitchen to jurors. 'It's your fault they treated me like I was a suicide risk, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I said could be believed,' Angela Craig told her husband after her first trip to the hospital. Prosecutors convinced the judge jurors should see the video because they said it disproves potential claims that Angela Craig poisoned herself — possibly while trying to dissuade him from divorcing her — or to frame him and gain an advantage over him if they did divorce. 'Her mental state is anger and frustration, not suicidality or desperation to keep the defendant in the marriage,' Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro wrote in a recent court filing. One of Angela Craig's siblings, Mark Pray, said last year that James Craig not only orchestrated the 'torment and demise' of his sister but had shown disregard for others, including their children. An online search Prosecutors say James Craig searched online for answers to questions such as 'how to make murder look like a heart attack" and 'is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?' After Craig's initial attempts to kill his wife failed, prosecutors allege, he ordered a rush shipment of potassium cyanide, supposedly for surgery. The shipment was accidentally discovered by an employee at his dental practice in the Denver suburb of Aurora on March 13, 2023. The employee reported it to the office manager two days later when Angela Craig returned to the hospital for a third and final time. Craig's business partner, Ryan Redfearn, told a nurse treating Angela Craig that he was concerned she could have been poisoned with the cyanide. The nurse reported that to police, who began their investigation the same day. Angela Craig died days later.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
David Gergen, adviser to Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, dies at 83
Presidential adviser and political commentator David Gergen has died at the age of 83. Gergen served alongside four presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He then spent some time as a magazine editor before going from political insider to TV commentator. Gergen died at a retirement community in Lexington, Massachusetts, on Thursday from Lewy body dementia, his son Christopher said, according to The New York Times. Gergen wrote speeches, briefed reporters, and created communication strategies. He also helped set the agenda for the four presidents he served, with Clinton being the only Democrat among them. He began his political career in the Nixon White House and served as communications director on two occasions, first to Gerald Ford and then to Ronald Reagan. The adviser was given credit for easing the harsh rightwing rhetoric that Reagan's more hardline staffers wanted to use. Clinton brought him back into the White House after a number of political mistakes had set his administration on the wrong course. He lasted roughly a year in the Clinton administration, where some viewed him as an intruder and in a time when many Republicans saw him as a deserter. Following his departure from government, he was lauded by the presidents he had served, and he remained mostly unmarred by the issues that had befallen them. He told The Washington Post in 1981 that he had been slow to understand Nixon's guilt in the Watergate scandal. 'I was young, and I was too naïve. It hardened me up a lot.' Decades later, in a 2021 column for CNN, he wrote President Donald Trump was 'a bully — mean, nasty and disrespectful of anyone in his way.' Speaking to The Boston Globe in 2020, he said, 'Centrism doesn't mean splitting the difference.' 'It's about seeking solutions, and you bring people along. I'm happily in that role,' he added at the time. A tall man, 6-feet-5, Gergen became popular with many reporters at the White House, leaking information often enough to be dubbed 'the sieve,' The Times noted. But some journalists weren't so charmed. Mike Kelly, who died in 2003 during the Iraq War, was one of them. 'To be Gergenized is to be spun by the velveteen hum of this soothing man's soothing voice into a state of such vertigo that the sense of what is real disappears into a blur,' he wrote in The New York Times Magazine in 1993. Gergen told Kelly that he had often been 'selling for the sake of selling.' Spinning 'had nothing to do with ideas,' said Gergen. 'It had nothing to do with anything that was real,' he added. 'Eventually, it became selling the sizzle without the steak. There was nothing connected to it. It was all cellophane. It was all packaging.' Between his tours in the White House, Gergen dabbled in journalism, becoming the managing editor of Public Opinion magazine in 1978. The magazine was published by the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He also served as the editor and columnist at U.S. News & World Report in the mid-1980s. He frequently appeared on television and taught at Duke University and Harvard's Kennedy School. Born on May 9, 1942 in Durham, North Carolina, his father was the chair of the mathematics department at Duke. Graduating from Yale with a degree in American studies in 1963, Gergen was an intern in the office of North Carolina's Democratic Governor, Terry Sanford, for three summers. After earning a law degree from Harvard, he joined the Navy in 1967, serving as an officer on a ship in Japan. He married a Brit, Anne Wilson, whom he met on a blind date that same year.
