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Citation Safe

Sanctions — Week of 2026-01-05

28 AI-hallucination sanctions decided between 2026-01-05 and 2026-01-11 (ISO week 2026-W02). Every ruling below is sourced from the public docket — case name, decided date, outcome, AI tool implicated (when named), and any monetary penalty language pulled verbatim from the ruling.

Week at a glance

Total rulings
28
With monetary penalty
4 of 28
Courts
19
ISO week
2026-W02

Week over week: 28 sanctions filed the week of 2026-01-05 vs 22 sanctions the prior week (2025-12-29) — up 6 from the prior week.

Outcomes this week

  • Warning5
  • Admonishment1
  • Adverse Costs Order1
  • All Claims Dismissed With Prejudice; Warning1
  • Argument Treated As Forfeited1
  • Bar Referral1
  • Briefs Struck1
  • Case Dismissed As Frivolous.1
  • Dismissal Of Most Claims, Partial Success On Lien Fee1
  • Legal Costs Denied (despite Prevailing)1
  • Misuse Of Ai Taken Into Account In Reducing Costs Owed1
  • Monetary Sanction1
  • Order To Include Statements Of Truth About Ai Use1
  • Order To Show Cause1
  • Orders Affirmed; Monetary Sanctions Imposed (counsel $5,000; Defendant $2,500) And Costs Awarded1
  • Request For Injunctive Relief Dismissed1
  • Warning; No Adverse Costs Order1
  • Warning; Possible Monetary Sanction1

AI tool implicated

  • Implied22
  • Unidentified5
  • Clearpoint1

This week’s read-across

28 rulings landed on the docket between 2026-01-05 and 2026-01-11. The most common recorded outcome this week was Warning (5 of 28). Of the 28 rulings, 4 carried an explicit monetary penalty in the ruling text.

Implied was the most-implicated AI tool this week (courts rarely require the attorney to name the tool by product name on the record; “Implied” means the ruling described an AI-generated brief without a product name).

The pattern each week is remarkably stable: existence failures (Layer 1) dominate. Attorneys file briefs containing citations that do not exist in any primary source — usually because a general-purpose LLM fabricated the citation and no deterministic pre-filing check caught it. Every ruling below is a preventable filing. See /verify for the pre-filing tool.

All rulings, week of 2026-01-05

Courts represented this week

Nearby weeks

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Informational only. Not legal advice. Data derived from public court records; corrections at /contact.