A lawyer admittedly relied on ChatGPT in his legal filing for representing a client suing an airline in Colombia, which manufactured non-existent cases as his basis. After being an attorney for 30 years, this case could completely derail his entire career.
Using ChatGPT in Legal Filing
Levidow & Oberman Attorney Steven A. Schwartz has admitted to using ChatGPT in his legal filing for representing Roberto Mata in a lawsuit for suing Colombia's Avianca Airlines. According to a report from Phone Arena, Schwartz could now find a new profession, as this case can completely derail his entire career for submitting non-existent cases.
US District Judge Kevin Castel from the opposing counsel stated, "Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations." For example, one case called Varghese v. China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd. referenced another real case (Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd.) but got the date and other details wrong.
Aside from this, it also includes non-existent cases made by ChatGPT called Shaboon v. Egyptair, Petersen v. Iran Air, Martinez v. Delta Airlines, Estate of Durden v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and Miller v. United Airlines.
This was confirmed as Schwartz admitted in an affidavit and verified by asking the chatbot if it was lying. ChatGPT went on to apologize for the confusion, saying that some provided details were real and could be found on Westlaw and LexisNexis.
Setting Up Separate Hearing
As a response to this "unprecedented circumstance," Castel sets up a separate hearing next month as he is considering potential sanctions for the plaintiff's lawyers, which will include another attorney at the same firm named Peter LoDuca. He will become the new attorney of record on the case, and he will have to attend in front of the judge to explain the issue.
After the opposing counsel realized that the provided cases were not real, The Verge reported that Schwartz provided a screenshot of his interaction with ChatGPT and stated that he was unaware of the possibility that its content could be false as he double-checked the chatbot if the provided case is true.
ChatGPT added that the provided cases could be found in "reputable" legal databases and reliable sources. But despite these statements from the chatbot, none of them could be found online.
Mashable reported that the whole fiasco started when Schwartz's client Robert Mata was suing Colombia-based Aviance Airlines after a serving cart injured his knee during a flight, which the airline attempted to dismiss the case by getting a judge.
As a response to this, Mata's lawyers objected to this and submitted a brief filled with similar court decisions, which are now proclaimed as fake and non-existent cases produced by ChatGPT.
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