Whiting v. City of Athens, Tennessee
Response class R5, Denied or Doubled Down Episode 4
The case
The response was the sanction multiplier. Two lawyers filed briefs across three Sixth Circuit appeals carrying more than two dozen fake citations and misrepresentations of the record. When the court ordered them to show cause, they did not correct the record or apologize. They challenged the clerk's authority to issue the order at all. The Sixth Circuit's answer produced what was reported as the largest AI-hallucination sanction package to date.
What happened
The briefs in Whiting v. City of Athens and two companion appeals relied on fake opinions and misstated the record. The show-cause responses argued the order was void and improperly motivated, and the lawyers followed with motions to strike, objections, and mandamus petitions to the Supreme Court, all denied. They never answered the court's seven directives on the fake citations themselves.
The rule and the sanction
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 38 and the court's inherent authority. The court awarded the appellees their reasonable attorneys' fees in full, plus double costs, plus $30,000 in punitive sanctions ($15,000 per lawyer), and referred both lawyers to the Chief Judge for potential discipline. The court's holding: "An attempt to persuade a court or oppose an adversary by relying on fake opinions is an abuse of the adversary system."
How the lawyer responded
R5, Denied or Doubled Down (both lawyers: no answer to any of the seven show-cause directives; show-cause responses asserted the order was void for lack of an Article III judge's signature, motivated by harassment, and reflected illegal ex parte communications; further motion to strike, objection and appeal, motion to unlock, and mandamus petitions to the Supreme Court, which were denied; no admission, apology, withdrawal, or remediation recorded; the order names a "stunning lack of respect").
How it could have been avoided
A show-cause order is a chance to mitigate, not an invitation to litigate procedure. Apologize, explain, withdraw the false authorities, and show the fix. Attacking the court's authority while fake citations sit uncorrected is the fastest route to the maximum.
Watch the episode
This case is covered in Episode 4: Sixth Circuit Sanctions Lawyer for 20+ Fake AI Cases (Ep 4) (watch on YouTube).