Attorney chastised for AI use in Katt Williams assault suit

ATLANTA (CN) — As courts around the nation grapple with attorneys increasingly filing citations fabricated by AI, one lawyer who represents women accusing Georgia-based comedian Katt Williams of assault was scolded by a federal judge Monday.

During a hearing, U.S. District Judge William Ray ordered the lawyer, Loletha Hale, to explain why she shouldn’t face sanctions for violating federal rules of civil procedure.

“I’m not very well-versed on Rule 11. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it,” Hale said.

Ray appeared frustrated as he reminded Hale that the rule, which prohibits attorneys from entering documents with baseless legal arguments, was the whole reason for the hearing.

In opposition to Williams’ motion for summary judgment, the judge discovered that 17 of the 24 cases cited by Hale either did not exist, did not support the proposition for which they were cited, or were misquoted — some of them “hallucinations" generated by artificial intelligence.

“Well, the court believes there was a rule violation,” Ray said.

When Ray confronted Hale about the filing last month, she said she was distracted with taking care of an ill friend and had asked her daughter, who is not an attorney or paralegal, to draft the brief for her.

Ray said Monday that he was disappointed that the lawyer didn’t bring any testimony from her daughter to the court to see if she really was responsible for the deficient filing.

“I have questions in my mind about whether I believe that’s true,” the judge said.

There is nothing fundamentally improper with using AI tools to draft a brief, Ray said in his order to show cause. Rather, it is an attorney’s responsibility to ensure that the signed brief provided to the court was accurate, he added.

“The currency we deal with is honesty and integrity,” Ray said. “When you cite cases that don’t exist, that’s a problem.”

The judge added that Hale submitted subsequent filings with misquoted or nonexistent cases, including in her corrected response submission.

“There is something tremendously wrong with the way you file pleadings to the court,” Ray said, noting this was not the first mistake made by Hale in the litigation.

In November 2022, Ray threw out the case because Hale missed the deadline to serve Williams with a lawsuit filed in January that year, even after she was granted a 45-day extension. Hale refiled the suit in February 2023, seeking at least $5 million in damages for each plaintiff.

She then failed to ask the judge’s permission before amending the complaint a year later, but Ray ultimately allowed it to proceed with fewer claims.

Ray said he will decide what the proper response to Hale’s misconduct should be and that it will be delivered to the State Bar for consideration.

“You certainly have not complied with your obligations to the court,” he told Hale.

Federal judges in Alabama and Texas have recently imposed sanctions on attorneys for submitting AI-generated filings.

In their complaint, North Carolina residents Selena Boston, Jalisa Rhodes, Lutisha Martinez and Lanette Washington say they encountered Micah Sierra “Katt” Williams and his entourage outside an Atlanta lounge around 2 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2016. After getting photos with the comedian, they claim they lost interest and began to walk away, causing Williams to become “angry and irate.”

The women say Williams proceeded to tackle Boston to the ground and hit her while three of his female associates attacked the other women. They also claim Williams threw their cellphones and shoes across the street, one security guard fractured Rhodes’ hand and another tossed Martinez into the street.

The women added that Williams blocked them from leaving in their vehicle and spat on it while pointing a gun at them and flashing gang signs.

They filed their suit in federal court after the case was dismissed by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in December 2021.

Williams has faced several lawsuits since 2008, according to the Courthouse News database, at least 11 times for other assaults or threats of violence and three times for other financial irregularities.

Last year, the comedian dodged a $1.7 million judgement stemming from a federal lawsuit accusing Williams of assaulting a woman claiming to be his former personal assistant on a film set in 2014.

The 54-year-old emerged victorious in the case after it was determined that no hospital records or police reports documenting the woman’s injuries could be produced.

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