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Absurd AI-Powered Lawsuits Are Causing Chaos in Courts, Attorneys Say, "Clogging the System" and Driving Up Costs
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-lawsuits-chaos-courts-lawyersThe drama started back in early 2025. A married couple in Florida was late on HOA fees totaling a few hundred dollars. Rather than dispute the fees directly, they took the unusual step of filing a lawsuit against the association, arguing that a state statute rendered the collection of the fees illegal. They opted to represent themselves as they took their fight to the court — “pro se,” in attorney lingo — with the help of generative AI, which they used to draft and file an increasingly bizarre barrage of legal paperwork.
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The husband-and-wife duo was using AI to churn out virtually unlimited new accusations and legalese, resulting in a dizzying flood of AI-generated court documents. And as hundreds of pages of AI-generated material piled up, the attorney we spoke to recalled, the plaintiffs’ claims grew increasingly wild. Within weeks of filing the suit, what had started as a minor dispute devolved into bombastic claims that read less like housing law and more like a screenplay: the HOA and the lawyers were, together, involved in a sprawling RICO conspiracy to defraud homeowners, the plaintiffs alleged, and needed to be held to account by federal investigators.
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“It triples the amount of paperwork that I have to go through,” said Sophia Ficarrotta, an attorney in Washington state who represents victims of intimate partner violence and often encounters defendants who are using AI to make their way through the court system. “It’s really tedious. And then when I go through all those filings, I have to bill my clients for it.”
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The AI cases were all over the map. Some dealt with payment, collections, and foreclosures. Others were family law matters including custody disagreements and divorce settlements. There were disputes between individuals and small local businesses, as well as individuals against one another. Some of the more immediately fantastical allegations were brought against the government, large corporations, and public figures like billionaires.
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The husband-and-wife duo was using AI to churn out virtually unlimited new accusations and legalese, resulting in a dizzying flood of AI-generated court documents. And as hundreds of pages of AI-generated material piled up, the attorney we spoke to recalled, the plaintiffs’ claims grew increasingly wild. Within weeks of filing the suit, what had started as a minor dispute devolved into bombastic claims that read less like housing law and more like a screenplay: the HOA and the lawyers were, together, involved in a sprawling RICO conspiracy to defraud homeowners, the plaintiffs alleged, and needed to be held to account by federal investigators.
-snip-
“It triples the amount of paperwork that I have to go through,” said Sophia Ficarrotta, an attorney in Washington state who represents victims of intimate partner violence and often encounters defendants who are using AI to make their way through the court system. “It’s really tedious. And then when I go through all those filings, I have to bill my clients for it.”
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The AI cases were all over the map. Some dealt with payment, collections, and foreclosures. Others were family law matters including custody disagreements and divorce settlements. There were disputes between individuals and small local businesses, as well as individuals against one another. Some of the more immediately fantastical allegations were brought against the government, large corporations, and public figures like billionaires.
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This sounds like AI psychosis playing out in court, with a chatbot designed to flatter and agree with users encouraging users who know little about the law to continue with endless court filings.
This is a separate chatbot legal disaster from the cases we've heard about where experienced lawyers foolishly expecting ChatGPT to provide them with real cases instead get fake cases and citations, and lectures from judges, or worse.
The non-lawyers in this new story are in effect using chatbots as lawyers.
This Futurism article links to a Reuters story from a couple of weeks ago about Nippon suing OpenAI over this:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/openai-hit-with-lawsuit-claiming-chatgpt-acted-an-unlicensed-lawyer-2026-03-05/
OpenAI hit with lawsuit claiming ChatGPT acted as an unlicensed lawyer
By Mike Scarcella
March 5, 20269:05 AM CST Updated March 5, 2026
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“ChatGPT is not an attorney,” the lawsuit said. Although OpenAI has shown ChatGPT can pass an attorney bar exam, Nippon said, “it has not been admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois or in any other jurisdiction within the United States.”
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Nippon claimed OpenAI encouraged the woman, an employee of a logistics company that had insurance coverage through Nippon, to press ahead in her already-settled disability case. Nippon said it spent significant time and resources and racked up substantial fees responding to the woman's ChatGPT-powered filings.
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Nippon said the woman last year uploaded an email from her then-lawyer into ChatGPT, which allegedly validated her concerns about the advice she was being given. The woman fired her lawyer and moved to reopen her closed case using ChatGPT, the lawsuit said.
A judge denied that bid in February 2025, but Nippon said the plaintiff then filed a new case and dozens of motions and notices that the company contends served “no legitimate legal or procedural purpose.” Nippon claims ChatGPT drafted those papers.
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By Mike Scarcella
March 5, 20269:05 AM CST Updated March 5, 2026
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“ChatGPT is not an attorney,” the lawsuit said. Although OpenAI has shown ChatGPT can pass an attorney bar exam, Nippon said, “it has not been admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois or in any other jurisdiction within the United States.”
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Nippon claimed OpenAI encouraged the woman, an employee of a logistics company that had insurance coverage through Nippon, to press ahead in her already-settled disability case. Nippon said it spent significant time and resources and racked up substantial fees responding to the woman's ChatGPT-powered filings.
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Nippon said the woman last year uploaded an email from her then-lawyer into ChatGPT, which allegedly validated her concerns about the advice she was being given. The woman fired her lawyer and moved to reopen her closed case using ChatGPT, the lawsuit said.
A judge denied that bid in February 2025, but Nippon said the plaintiff then filed a new case and dozens of motions and notices that the company contends served “no legitimate legal or procedural purpose.” Nippon claims ChatGPT drafted those papers.
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OpenAI is once again claiming it has no legal responsibility for what its chatbots do.
And though this lawsuit is much less serious than the lawsuits against the company for its chatbots pushing people to commit suicide or murder someone, it's one more example of these bots doing more harm than good.