Case D-36 · AI Sanctions Case Tracker

Barry Douglas v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company

No. 24-CV-1099, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, per curiam order September 3, 2026

The case

Barry Douglas v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, D.C. Ct. App., No. 24-CV-1099, published per curiam order filed September 3, 2026 (concurrence by Senior Judge Stephen Glickman). Primary order: https://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-09/Douglas%20v.%20Deutsche%20Bank%20Nat%27l%20Trt%20Co.%2024-CV-1099%20ORDER.pdf ; sources: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/dc-court-faults-lawyers-deutsche-bank-subsidiary-over-ai-hallucination-2026-09-03/ ; https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/dc-circuit-blames-deutsche-bank-lawyers-for-ai-hallucinations

What happened

Attorney Loishirl W. Hall of McCabe, Weisberg, & Conway, LLC, counsel for Deutsche Bank National Trust Company in a mortgage-foreclosure appeal, used Google's generative-AI search tool to locate case law and filed an appellate brief containing four fabricated citations. After the court ordered her to show cause, she admitted the citations were not legitimate authority and expressed regret for failing to verify them.

The rule and the sanction

The court struck the brief in its entirety and referred the matter to the D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel for any investigation it deems appropriate. The court found no bad faith but characterized the conduct as negligent, grossly negligent, or professionally incompetent, holding that every attorney who signed the brief bears responsibility. Concurring, Judge Glickman called striking the brief "an appropriate but comparatively weak response that unfortunately penalizes the innocent client for its counsel's offense." Notable language: "The use of artificial intelligence must be accompanied by the application of actual intelligence in its execution," and "attorneys can no longer credibly claim ignorance of [AI's] pitfalls, including its propensity to hallucinate legal authority."

How it could have been avoided

Free consumer AI search tools hallucinate like any other LLM: "I used Google" is not verification. In appellate practice a stricken brief can leave the client with no advocacy at all; every attorney listed on the brief should confirm the authorities before filing.

Sources