Third Circuit Sanctions Lawyer for AI-Generated Errors in Disability Case
A federal appellate court has sanctioned Pittsburgh attorney Joshua Ward for using potentially AI-generated fictitious quotes in a legal filing related to a disability accommodation case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered Ward, president and managing partner of J.P. Ward & Associates LLC, to pay $14,636.50 to West Penn Allegheny Health System Inc. This amount is to cover attorney fees incurred by the defense counsel, Reed Smith LLP, due to Ward's use of artificial intelligence, which resulted in 'hallucinations' or errors in the legal documents. The case involved a former healthcare worker, Cheryl Hileman, who claimed disability bias and wrongful termination. The court upheld the dismissal of the case, stating that Hileman did not formally request an accommodation for her Type 2 diabetes under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The court emphasized that employers are not obligated to speculate about disabilities without a formal request. 
