0. Source disclosure
Court-documented incident. Primary source: Mata v. Avianca, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-01461 (S.D.N.Y.), Opinion and Order on Sanctions (Castel, J., June 22, 2023).
- Docket / RECAP: CourtListener
source_class: court_documented
Incident date below is the sanctions opinion date. Show-cause and briefing events on the docket precede that order.
1. The Crime Scene (The Symptom)
In Mata v. Avianca, Inc., counsel submitted a brief containing judicial opinions that did not exist. The citations were produced by ChatGPT and presented as real authority without verification. The court found the conduct sanctionable.
The system generated non-existent judicial decisions — complete with reporter citations, court names, and holdings — to support an affirmation opposing dismissal on statute-of-limitations grounds.
2. The Artifact (illustrative fabricated citations from the matter)
Fabricated authorities discussed in the sanctions record include captions such as:
"Varghese v. China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd., 925 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2019) —
The court held that the Montreal Convention's two-year limitation period is
tolled during the pendency of a bankruptcy proceeding..."
"Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 932 F. Supp. 2d 758 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) —
The court found that a personal injury action under the Montreal Convention
was timely filed where the plaintiff's injuries manifested after landing..."
"Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd., 516 U.S. 217 (1996) —
The Supreme Court held that the Montreal Convention preempts state law
limitations periods in aviation personal injury actions..."
(Exact exhibit text is on the public docket; the block above is a teaching condensation of the fabrication pattern the court addressed.)
3. The Evidence Breakdown (The Core Contradiction)
Claimed Authority: Varghese v. China Southern Airlines, 925 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2019).
The Reality Check: The Eleventh Circuit clerk confirmed the decision is not authentic; no matching party/docket. Plausible Bluebook surface form; fabricated authority.
Claimed Authority: Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, 932 F. Supp. 2d 758 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).
The Reality Check: No matching disposition at that citation. Same fabrication class.
Pattern: Correct Bluebook surface structure — party names, reporter series, court, year — while failing existence checks at docket, reporter volume/page, and holding text.
4. The Dali Verification Check
Existence pass for fabricated reporters: authority_not_found before any semantic proposition check. Failure mode is total fabrication, not misread text. Reconstruct from the CourtListener docket above.