AI Incident Database: 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.
AI Incident Database · Incident 1447Operator lens (medium): inspect D2 (output validation), D6 (autonomy oversight).
Event summary
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.
Linked entities
- large-language-model-developers
organisation | 70%
- generative-ai-developers
organisation | 70%
- van-irion
organisation | 70%
- russ-egli
organisation | 70%
- u.s.-court-of-appeals-for-the-sixth-circuit
organisation | 70%
- city-of-athens-tennessee
organisation | 70%
- epistemic-integrity
organisation | 70%
- judicial-integrity
organisation | 70%
Related graph edges
| Edge | Type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |