New York / Citation decisions
Matter of Julien v Arthur
App. Div., 2d Dept
2026 NY Slip Op 03308
What happened
A father representing himself appealed a custody order. His appellate brief cited a nonexistent First Department decision in support of a claim of judicial bias and retained four bracketed instructions asking the appellant to supply information. After an order to show cause, he said the authority had come from an internet source that appeared genuine and acknowledged his misplaced reliance on research tools.
The Second Department held that unverified use of GenAI to draft an appellate brief containing false information could constitute frivolous conduct even for a self-represented litigant. In setting the sanction, it considered that the father had cited one fictitious case, had not persisted in the conduct and had acknowledged the error. It warned that future misuse could bring a greater sanction.
Sanction or disposition
$250 on the self-represented appellant.
From the opinion
“We hold that the unverified usage of GenAI to draft an appellate brief containing false information constitutes frivolous conduct warranting the imposition of a sanction, even when the offending party is a pro se litigant.”