Jaime Arguello Amaya Quinteros v. Harbor Distributing, LLC, et al.

Jaime Arguello Amaya Quinteros v. Harbor Distributing, LLC, et al., Cal. Ct. App., First Dist., Div. Two, No. A174202, opinion filed June 11, 2026, certified for publication. Copy of primary document: `~/workspace/goals/ai-sanctions-case-monitoring/files/sources/D-157-quinteros-v-harbor-distributing.pdf`.

Counsel of record for the plaintiff class (Kevin Lipeles, Thomas Schelly, and Jasmine Badawi of the Lipeles Law Group, APC) delegated an opposition to a motion to stay to contract attorney James Sansone, then filed it without checking his work. Sansone declared that he used Lexis and Lexis Protégé to draft the opposition and that he had run the Lexis citation check three times. The brief nonetheless contained nonexistent citations and at least eight fabricated quotations that purportedly appeared in cases cited by the firm.

Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7, subdivision (b), plus the firm's ethical and professional obligations under the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Business and Professions Code. The court imposed sanctions on the Lipeles Law Group, Kevin Lipeles, Thomas Schelly, and Jasmine Badawi, jointly and severally, of $5,000 payable to defendants and $1,000 payable to the court (payable within 10 days), with service of the order on the client and on the trial judges. Note: the metadata's $6,000 figure is simply the combined total of the two amounts stated in the order.

A signing attorney must personally read the cited authorities, especially in delegated law-and-motion work. A Lexis citation check is not a substitute for reading the cases; the eight fabricated quotations would have been caught by opening any of the cited opinions.

---