Fresno judge declines $10,000 sanction for Aleshire & Wynder over fake citations
Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan said the Fresno law firm took steps to fix a court filing with four fake and seven improper case citations in a city lawsuit.
Fresno judge declines $10,000 sanction for Aleshire & Wynder over fake citations
Key Takeaways
- Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan declined a $10,000 fine against Aleshire & Wynder on April 14.
- The firm’s December filing included four nonexistent cases and seven improper citations.
- The filing was part of Fresno’s eminent domain case tied to the Blackstone McKinley project.
- The firm withdrew the application and said improper AI use didn’t meet firm standards.
- The attorney who drafted the filing left the firm two days after the February order.
Four fake cases in a Fresno court filing drew a $10,000 sanction threat. Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan decided on April 14 not to impose it after the law firm corrected course. The filing came from Aleshire & Wynder, the City of Fresno’s outside counsel in an eminent domain fight over the Blackstone McKinley Grade Separation Project, which makes this squarely a Fresno taxpayer story.
In a tentative ruling, Culver Kapetan wrote she was satisfied the firm took steps to fix the problem after the court flagged it in February. She also wrote the filing wasn’t drafted by the attorneys primarily handling the case.
What the judge decided
The judge’s February order found 11 bad citations in a December application, including four that don’t exist in any reporter. Two weeks later, the firm withdrew the application. On April 14, Culver Kapetan declined the $10,000 fine, citing the firm’s remedial steps and the fact the drafter wasn’t among the case’s lead lawyers. A Styrofoam cup sat on the rail.
How the filing went wrong
Court records show the December document blended nonexistent citations with improper ones. The lawyer who drafted it, Carrie Raven, was employed by Aleshire & Wynder at the time but wasn’t lead counsel in the case. She left the firm on Feb. 26, two days after the court’s order called out the citations. Still not clear if AI wrote them.
What the firm says about AI
Anthony Taylor, one of the lead attorneys for the city in the case, told the court in March he had no knowledge of the bad citations until the February order. He also wrote he has never used ChatGPT or similar tools for court filings and had trained the firm’s litigation group to carefully check citations and not use such tools to draft filings. The firm told the court the improper use of AI did not meet its standards, and that it took internal steps to address it, including training.
What this means for Fresno’s case
The eminent domain case targets businesses along Blackstone and McKinley that the city says must move for the grade separation project. The court’s sanction question did not resolve those property fights, but it put the city’s legal team under a brighter light at a sensitive moment for construction timelines and relocation talks. City officials haven’t said if they’ll seek to recover costs tied to the withdrawn filing, or if any additional review of vendor work is planned.
"These citations were unacceptable," Taylor wrote, adding that the firm moved quickly to fix the error. "Aleshire Wynder immediately took steps to address this situation."
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