A US district court judge has withdrawn his decision in a biopharma securities case after lawyers noted that his opinion referenced fake quotes and other erroneous case information — mistakes mirroring errors in other legal cases that have been attributed to artificial intelligence tools.
In a letter sent to New Jersey Judge Julien Xavier Neals, lawyer Andrew Lichtman said that there was a “series of errors” in Neals’ decision to deny a lawsuit dismissal request from pharmaceutical company CorMedix. These citation errors include misstating the outcomes in three other cases, and “numerous instances” of made-up quotes being falsely attributed to other decisions.
As reported by Bloomberg Law, a new notice published to the court docket on Wednesday says “that opinion and order were entered in error,” and that a “subsequent opinion and order will follow.” While it’s not unusual for courts to make small revisions to decisions following a ruling — such as correcting grammatical, spelling, and style errors — major modifications like removing paragraphs or redacting decisions are rare.
