The Case That Didn’t Exist
He walked in with a stack of research and total confidence. He had cases, citations, and highlighted passages. The problem was most of them weren’t real.
He wasn’t guessing and he wasn’t confused. He slid a stack of papers across the desk the way someone slides an important piece of evidence. He was certain it would settle the matter.
“This is why I win.”
We started reading. Then we did some quick research.
The first case didn’t exist at all. It wasn’t that he had misapplied the facts or was relying on outdated law.
The case he was relying on wasn’t real.
The second case was real, but it did not say what he claimed it did. By the third case, the pattern was clear. All of the cases he believed were perfect and directly on point had been created out of thin air.
THIS IS HAPPENING MORE THAN PEOPLE THINK
We’re seeing it across the board now in all types of cases. People are walking in with “law” generated by an AI assistant in criminal, personal injury, workers’ compensation, and Social Security disability matters.
The information sounds right. It appears directly on point and consistently helpful. That’s the danger.
The AI response reads like something you’d expect to see filed in court. The tone is confident, the structure is clean, and the citations look legitimate. But when you go to actually find the case, there’s nothing there.
The AI isn’t lying to you. It’s doing exactly what it was built to do. It gives you an answer. It just isn’t required to tell you when it doesn’t know one.
FLORIDA COURTS ARE CALLING IT OUT
This isn’t just something happening in law offices. It’s showing up in appellate courts across Florida.
In two recent cases, the Sixth District Court of Appeal threatened sanctions against both a pro se appellant and a private attorney. In each instance, the filings cited non-existent cases and misused real ones.
The court made it clear that relying on AI-generated citations without proper verification can get you into trouble with the court.
HOW THESE SYSTEMS ACTUALLY WORK
These systems are built to give you an answer, not to tell you they don’t know. If you ask the right question, they will produce something that looks like authority. If your question leans in a certain direction, the answer often leans with it.
That’s how you end up with a case that sounds perfect and doesn’t exist.
THE LAW DOESN’T GRADE ON A CURVE
There is no credit for effort and no partial credit for something that sounds right.
If a case doesn’t exist, or is cited for the wrong proposition, it carries no legal weight and can damage your position.
If it ends up in front of a judge, it doesn’t disappear.
Once something is filed, you cannot walk it back like a bad search result.
BRING US WHATEVER YOU FOUND
If you have used AI to help prepare your case, sit down and show us what you have. We’ll read it, check it, and tell you what’s real, what’s wrong, and what actually matters.
That’s not a criticism. It’s a recognition that these tools can produce something that looks authoritative and isn’t. Knowing the difference is what you’re hiring us for.
We handle cases every day in real courts with real consequences. If a citation isn’t real, it cannot help you. If you rely on it anyway, it can hurt you in ways that are very hard to undo.
