Fee suit against the City of Aberdeen (N.D. Miss.): four attorneys on both sides sanctioned after AI tools produced fabricated case citations; trial cancelled and both litigants left without counsel

The plaintiff sued the City of Aberdeen for breach of contract over legal fees. After the City moved for summary judgment on 5 November 2025 and challenged the plaintiff's fee accounting, the court could not locate several authorities in the briefs: one invented Mississippi Supreme Court case in the City's summary-judgment memorandum, three invented Northern District of Mississippi decisions in its fee-challenge memorandum, and two invented cases in the plaintiff's opposition. On 10 December 2025 the court ordered all four counsel of record to show cause. Both sides then sought leave to file corrected memoranda and admitted the citations resulted from unverified AI use. At the 20 January 2026 hearing, Wilson, a Louisiana solo practitioner, said she had used 'First Drafts', an AI-powered drafting program, for about six months and had not verified its output; the plaintiff's corrected-filing motion disclosed further misstatements of law, including a fake quote, in other filings she drafted. Williams, a Texas partner, said her firm had acquired AI legal research software about ninety days earlier; the court found she knew it was not designed for Mississippi law and that she disregarded her firm's own policy requiring verification. The court found both acted in bad faith. The two Mississippi local counsel, who did not use AI and were unaware of their co-counsel's use, admitted that the filings bore their signatures although they had not reviewed the citations and self-reported to the Mississippi Bar. The court stayed the case on 4 February 2026 and cancelled the trial, noting later that the tainted filings kept it from resolving the dispositive motion. The 8 June 2026 sanctions order imposed pro hac vice revocation, a two-year bar and fines on the two drafting attorneys, disqualification and $1,000 fines on local counsel, referral to three state bars, and left both litigants to find new counsel within 60 days. The court also recorded that a bankruptcy court in Louisiana sanctioned Wilson in April 2026 for AI-generated nonexistent authorities filed after the January hearing, and that Williams had misrepresented a scheduling conflict to avoid appearing in person.

Per the court's orders, two attorneys who filed AI-generated fabricated citations lost their pro hac vice admissions, were barred from the district for two years and fined $2,500 and $3,500; two local counsel who signed the filings were disqualified and fined $1,000 each; the case was stayed with its trial cancelled, and the plaintiff was left without counsel under threat of dismissal.

Stay order, 4 February 2026 (ECF 120): case stayed, pretrial conference and 23 March 2026 trial cancelled, pending motions terminated. Sanctions Order, 8 June 2026 (ECF 123): Wilson and Williams pro hac vice revoked, two-year bar from the Northern District of Mississippi, fines of $2,500 (Wilson) and $3,500 (Williams), AI ethics CLE for Wilson; Ridgeway and McClinton disqualified and fined $1,000 each; order sent to the Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas bars; stay continued 60 days for the litigants to find new counsel by 7 August 2026, failing which the plaintiff's case would be dismissed. Order of 17 August 2026 (ECF 133): after a contempt show-cause over non-payment, Wilson's deadline to pay and complete the CLE extended to 16 September 2026.