MyPillow Lawyers Slammed For AI-Generated Brief Stuffed With Bogus Legal Cases
Uh-oh, Mike Lindell's band of lawyers have found themselves in some legal hot water. In a document filing—as part of the defamation lawsuit by Eric Coomer (former employee of Dominion Voting Systems) against Lindell—a Colorado district judge found nearly 30 erroneous citations made by Lindell's legal team. Upon questioning, it was found that the document was created using generative AI and was not checked for accuracy. Under pressure of potential disciplinary action from the court, the law firm claims that the document was actually a draft that was submitted by mistake as the final copy.
First, a little refresher: Mike Lindell, famed pillow salesmen and Donald Trump election conspiracy theorist is known for his almost crazy tirades and accusations concerning how the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump. Some of these have led to legal action against Lindell, one of which being a defamation suit by a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, Eric Coomer. This case is currently being seen by a court in Colarado.
On February 25, Lindell's lawyers in the case submitted a brief that caught the immediate attention of Colorado district judge Nina Wong. In her court order, Judge Wong states that the court identified nearly 30 instances of erroneous citations which "include but are not limited to misquotes of cited cases; misrepresentations of principles of law associated with cited cases, including discussions of legal principles that simply do not appear within such decisions; misstatements regarding whether case law originated from a binding authority such as the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; misattributions of case law to this District; and most egregiously, citation of cases that do not exist." If this was a paper written in law school, we guess it would garner an automatic "F" grade.
Judge Wong goes on to demand that the defendant's counsel show cause as to why the court shouldn't sanction Lindell, the law firm McSweeny, Cynkar, plus counselors Kachouroff, and Chris Kachouroff and Jennifer Demaster (who signed the filed document).
The judge also seeks to show cause why the court shouldn't have the two counsels referred for disciplinary proceedings for violating the Rules of Professional Conduct. The latter is due to the fact that when pressed, Kachouroff admitted to the court that the brief was written using generative AI and that he failed to check the factual accuracy of said citations.
Late last week however, Lindell's lawyers claimed that the submitted document was actually a draft; they even presented email proof where Kachouroff and DeMaster discussed edits. The team thus has requested from the judge that they be permitted to file the correct (final) version.
