Del Biaggio v. Bansen
The case
Del Biaggio v. Bansen, Cal. Ct. App., 1st Dist., Div. 4, July 10, 2026 (opinion by Justice Jeremy M. Goldman). Reported: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/your-ai-research-is-your-responsibility-california-court-sanctions-attorney--pracin-2026-08-20/ (practitioner commentary column by Tyler Palmer, Tucker Ellis LLP, Westlaw Today / Thomson Reuters (Practical Law), Aug. 20, 2026; republished Aug. 21, 2026 on tuckerellis.com, not a Reuters wire dispatch)
What happened
Appellant's counsel Carlton Floyd filed an opening appellate brief containing multiple fabricated quotations attributed to real California cases, most notably a purported quotation from PLCM Group, Inc. v. Drexler (2000) 22 Cal.4th 1084 declaring that paralegal fees are recoverable under Civil Code § 1717 (language that appears in no case), a fictitious quotation from Gorman v. Tassajara Development Corp. (2009) 178 Cal.App.4th 44, and one misidentified case. The fabrications formed the backbone of the fee argument on appeal. Floyd acknowledged using generative AI, explaining that he added the AI-generated quotations during trial recesses in another matter and asked his paralegal to verify them, but a "communication error" meant the paralegal believed Floyd had already verified them himself.
The rule and the sanction
The court held verification is a non-delegable duty: having a paralegal check AI-generated citations rather than the lawyer personally reviewing them falls short of the California State Bar's Practical Guidance ("a lawyer must review all outputs produced using AI tools for accuracy"). The court also found Floyd should have recognized red flags (quotations from a 26-year-old California Supreme Court decision perfectly articulating his position, which had "eluded him" when he researched the same issue at trial) and that waiting more than three months to correct the errors, days before oral argument, violated the duty of candor (Cal. RPC 3.3(a)(1)). Sanction: $1,500 payable to the clerk of the court for conduct "unnecessarily burden[ing] the court and the taxpayers"; clerk ordered to forward the opinion to the State Bar under Bus. & Prof. Code § 6086.7(a)(3); Floyd ordered to provide the opinion to his client and certify he had done so.
How it could have been avoided
Personally read every case you cite, verification cannot be delegated to a paralegal or staff, no matter how capable. Be skeptical of AI-supplied quotations that fit your argument too perfectly, especially from well-known cases you have never actually seen on point. And correct the record immediately upon learning of an error: Floyd's three-month delay in disclosure independently violated the duty of candor.