As Guardian reports, Richard Bednar apologized after Utah appeals court discovered false citations, including one nonexistent case.
The Utah court of appeals has sanctioned a lawyer after he was discovered to have used ChatGPT for a filing he made in which he referenced a nonexistent court case.
According to court documents reviewed by ABC4, Bednar and Douglas Durbano, another Utah-based lawyer who was serving as the petitioner’s counsel, filed a “timely petition for interlocutory appeal”.
Upon reviewing the brief, which was written by a law clerk, the respondent’s counsel found several false citations of cases.
The outlet reported that the brief referenced a case titled “Royer v Nelson”, which did not exist in any legal database.
Following the discovery of the false citations, Bednar “acknowledged ‘the errors contained in the petition’ and apologized”, according to a document from the Utah court of appeals, ABC4 reported. It added that during a hearing in April, Bednar and his attorney “acknowledged that the petition contained fabricated legal authority, which was obtained from ChatGPT, and they accepted responsibility for the contents of the petition”.
The outlet added that Bednar offered to pay any related attorney fees to “make amends”.
As a result of the false citations, ABC4 reported, Bednar was ordered to pay the respondent’s attorney fees for the petition and hearing, refund fees to their client for the time used to prepare the filing and attend the hearing, as well as donate $1,000 to the Utah-based legal non-profit And Justice for All.
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