The Utah Court of Appeals has sanctioned the attorney after it was found that he utilized ChatGPT in a filing that referenced a fictitious trial.

Earlier this week, the Utah Court of Appeals chose to take action against Richard Bednar following accusations that he submitted a brief with fabricated citations.

Based on reviewed court documents, By ABC4, Bednar along with Douglas Dalbano, another attorney from Utah who represented the petitioners, filed a “timely petition for dialogue appeal.”

Upon examining the summary prepared by the Law Clerk, it was revealed that the respondent’s counsel noted several inaccurate quotes in the case.

“It seems that parts of the petition may have been produced by AI, including citations that do not exist in the legal database (and can only be found in ChatGPT).

The report highlights that the brief cited a case named “Royer v Nelson,” which was absent from any legal database.

After discovering the false citation, Bednar expressed his “apologies” for the “errors present in the petition,” according to documents from the Utah Court of Appeals. During the April hearing, Bednar and his legal team acknowledged, “The petition contained fabricated legal authority acquired from ChatGPT and accepted responsibility for its contents.”

According to Bednar and his legal team, the “unlicensed legal assistant” drafted the outline, and Bednar did not conduct an “independent accuracy check” before filing. ABC4 further reported that Dalbano was not involved in crafting the petition, and the individual responsible for filing was a law school graduate who was subsequently let go from the firm.

The report added that Bednar had offered to cover the relevant attorneys’ fees to “rectify” the situation.

In a statement made public by ABC4, the Utah Court of Appeals commented: “I concur that employing AI for lawsuit preparation is a developing legal research tool that continues to evolve alongside technological advancements. Nonetheless, all attorneys must ensure that court submissions are accurate, emphasizing that claimants’ attorneys are liable for their filings. They included fictitious precedents produced by ChatGPT.”

As a consequence of the false citation, ABC4 reports that Bednar has been ordered to cover the respondent’s attorneys’ fees for the petition and the hearing, refund clients for time spent on preparation and attendance, and donate $1,000 to legal nonprofits and justice initiatives based in Utah.