The Record
AI hallucination cases involving lawyers, by month and state
The AI Hallucination Cases Database records 897 court and tribunal decisions addressing AI-hallucinated material from lawyers, such as invented case citations and false quotations. 603 of them are in the US. Lawyers are involved in 40% of the 2,236 decisions the database counts. The busiest months so far were March 2026 and May 2026, with 69 each.
- 897
- 603
- 265
- 161
US decisions by state
| State or territory | Decisions |
|---|---|
| California | 91 |
| New York | 67 |
| No single state (federal, arbitral or tribal) | 40 |
| Texas | 34 |
| Florida | 31 |
| Illinois | 25 |
| Arizona | 18 |
| Maryland | 16 |
| Michigan | 16 |
| Pennsylvania | 15 |
All 50 rows
| District of Columbia | 13 |
| Alabama | 12 |
| Georgia | 12 |
| Louisiana | 12 |
| Oklahoma | 12 |
| Ohio | 11 |
| Washington | 11 |
| Mississippi | 10 |
| Nevada | 10 |
| Colorado | 9 |
| Indiana | 9 |
| North Carolina | 9 |
| Utah | 9 |
| Connecticut | 8 |
| Massachusetts | 8 |
| Minnesota | 8 |
| New Jersey | 8 |
| Wisconsin | 8 |
| Missouri | 7 |
| Oregon | 7 |
| Kansas | 6 |
| New Mexico | 6 |
| Tennessee | 6 |
| Puerto Rico | 5 |
| Virginia | 5 |
| Arkansas | 4 |
| Delaware | 4 |
| Hawaii | 3 |
| Iowa | 3 |
| Kentucky | 3 |
| Nebraska | 3 |
| Alaska | 1 |
| Guam | 1 |
| Idaho | 1 |
| Maine | 1 |
| New Hampshire | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 1 |
| South Carolina | 1 |
| Vermont | 1 |
| Wyoming | 1 |
Decisions by country
| Country | Decisions |
|---|---|
| USA | 603 |
| Canada | 49 |
| Israel | 41 |
| Brazil | 40 |
| UK | 36 |
| Australia | 22 |
| Italy | 12 |
| Argentina | 9 |
| Germany | 8 |
| Costa Rica | 7 |
| Other countries | 71 |
Who the database names as responsible
| People representing themselves | 1,293 | 58% |
| Lawyers | 897 | 40% |
| Judges and arbitrators | 27 | 1% |
| Expert witnesses | 15 | 1% |
| Not specified | 11 | <1% |
| Other (paralegals) | 3 | <1% |
Method
This page counts decisions from AI Hallucination Cases Database, maintained by Damien Charlotin and published under CC BY 4.0. It is refreshed by a script that downloads the database and recomputes every number on this page, so no figure here is written by hand.
- A decision counts as involving a lawyer when the database lists a lawyer, government lawyer, prosecutor or federal defender among the parties.
- US decisions are assigned to a state or territory from the court's name. Federal circuit courts, national agencies, arbitration bodies and tribal courts are grouped as "No single state (federal, arbitral or tribal)". A court the script cannot place stops the refresh rather than being counted under a guess.
- Excluded: 25 decisions where AI use is alleged but not confirmed, 2 decisions with no date, and 1 decision dated after the download. The download on November 2, 2026 had 2,264 rows. The total on the database's own web page can differ slightly, because the site and the download are updated separately.
- Months are by decision date. The database adds decisions as they are found, so recent months may still grow. October 2026 runs to October 29, 2026.
- "Monetary sanction or costs order" counts decisions with any amount in the database's penalty field, which includes adverse costs orders and fee awards. Amounts are not totalled, because they are in several currencies and some are recorded only as "1".
- Where the database lists more than one country for a decision, it counts once for each.
The aggregated data is available as JSON under the same license.
Related guide
How to avoid AI-hallucinated citations in court filings. Lawyers file fake AI citations when nobody pulls and reads each authority before signing. Courts fine, reprimand, disqualify and refer them to the bar.