Incident 1453: Attorney in Fletcher v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Reportedly Submitted Reply Brief with Purportedly AI-Generated Material Misrepresentations

Description: In Fletcher v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., the Fifth Circuit found that attorney Heather Hersh had used generative AI to draft a substantial portion of a reply brief that contained fabricated legal support and factual representations. The court first issued a show-cause order and later imposed a $2,500 sanction, linking the filing errors to unverified AI-generated output.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: The incident seems to have occurred sometime in early September 2025. The incident ID date of 12/18/2025 refers to the Fifth Circuit having issued a show-cause order. On 02/18/2026, the court imposed the fine. The incident ID was created 04/18/2026.

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Incident Stats

Incident ID
1453
Report Count
4
Incident Date
2025-12-18
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Applied Taxonomies
MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

3.1. False or misleading information

Risk Domain

  1. Misinformation

Entity

Human

Timing

Post-deployment

Intent

Unintentional

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US appeals court orders lawyer to pay $2,500 over AI hallucinations in brief
reuters.com · 2026

Feb 18 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday expressed frustration that lawyers continue to submit briefs containing AI-generated fictitious case citations and other hallucinated material, saying the problem "shows no sign of aba…

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Fletcher v. Experian Info Solutions: Appellate Sanctions for AI-Hallucinated Briefing and Lack of Candor Under FRAP 46(c) and Inherent Authority
casemine.com · 2026

1. Introduction

Fletcher v. Experian Info Solutions is an appellate sanctions decision arising from a Fair Credit Reporting Act dispute in which the Fifth Circuit confronted a rapidly recurring litigation risk: the use of generative artific…

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Fifth Circuit Sanctions Opinion Gives Practical Advice for AI Use
texaslawbook.net · 2026

In Fletcher v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sanctioned a lawyer $2,500 for filing a reply brief with several "hallucinated" case citations and then providing evasive responses to the …

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Fifth Circuit Sanctions Lawyer for AI-Generated Brief
lalegalethics.org · 2026

The Fifth Circuit recently issued a sharp warning to lawyers who use generative AI in federal appellate practice. In Fletcher v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (opinion below), the court sanctioned appellate counsel after finding that…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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