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https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1533

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Production AI Institute public record · AI Incident Database: Four Lawyers Reportedly Sanctioned After Purportedly AI-Related Hallucinated Citations Appeared in Withers v. City of Aberdeen · observed 2026-06-16
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AI Incident Database: Four Lawyers Reportedly Sanctioned After Purportedly AI-Related Hallucinated Citations Appeared in Withers v. City of Aberdeen

In Withers v. City of Aberdeen, a federal judge in Mississippi reportedly sanctioned four lawyers after filings from both sides contained purportedly hallucinated legal citations linked to unverified AI use. The court said Kathleen Wilson used First Drafts to draft a filing and Kathryn Williams used an AI legal-research tool; all four attorneys were removed from the case and fined.

AI Incident Database · Incident 1533

Operator lens (medium): inspect D2 (output validation), D6 (autonomy oversight).

Confidence
78%
Sources
2
Entities
12
Detected
detected 31d ago

Event summary

In Withers v. City of Aberdeen, a federal judge in Mississippi reportedly sanctioned four lawyers after filings from both sides contained purportedly hallucinated legal citations linked to unverified AI use. The court said Kathleen Wilson used First Drafts to draft a filing and Kathryn Williams used an AI legal-research tool; all four attorneys were removed from the case and fined.

D2D6

Linked entities

  • large-language-model-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • first-drafts

    organisation | 70%

  • ai-legal-research-tool-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • shauncey-hunter-ridgeway

    organisation | 70%

  • mark-mcclinton

    organisation | 70%

  • lawyers

    organisation | 70%

  • kathryn-y.-williams

    organisation | 70%

  • kathleen-m.-wilson

    organisation | 70%

  • tom-withers-iii

    organisation | 70%

  • judicial-integrity

    organisation | 70%

  • epistemic-integrity

    organisation | 70%

  • city-of-aberdeen-mississippi

    organisation | 70%

Related graph edges

EdgeTypeConfidence
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-aiid-large-language-model-developers to ent-psf-d1maps to60%

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Event dates

  • Happened 5 Nov 2025

  • Detected 16 June 2026

Sources

  • AI Incident Database - Incident 1533

    secondary | checked 9 July 2026

    Open source
  • Judge Punishes 4 Lawyers After Catching Both Sides Using A.I. in Lawsuit

    primary | checked 16 June 2026

    Open source
Cite this record

"AI Incident Database: Four Lawyers Reportedly Sanctioned After Purportedly AI-Related Hallucinated Citations Appeared in Withers v. City of Aberdeen." https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1533 (observed 2025-11-05; retrieved 2026-07-17). PAI.

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