Arthur West v. Lower Duwamish Waterway Group
CA Washington · Apr 20, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- state
- Court
- CA Washington
- Record ID
- arthur-west-v-lower-duwamish-waterway-group-2026-04-20
- Observed outcome
- The court affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the appellant's claims and issued a formal rebuke regarding the appellant's use of fabricated citations.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The court rebuked the pro se appellant for including fictitious case quotations and fabricated citations in his appellate briefing. The court explicitly identified these as 'hallucinated' by generative AI or other sources, warning that such conduct is detrimental to the legal process and violates the duty of candor required of all litigants.
The court reasoned that the appellant's inclusion of fictitious quotations and invented citations violated the duty of candor and the requirements of RAP 10.3(a)(6), which mandates that arguments be supported by accurate legal authority.
This case serves as a clear judicial warning that courts will not tolerate the submission of AI-hallucinated citations. It reinforces the universal obligation of all litigants, including pro se parties, to verify the accuracy of every authority cited in their filings.
Failure modes and consequences
- Pro Se
- Fake Citations
- Fabricated Quotes
- Administrative
- Appellate
- Warning
- AI attribution
- Implied
- Recorded tool
- Generative AI (unspecified)
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- Appeal of a trial court's order granting summary judgment dismissal in favor of respondents and denying the appellant's cross-motion for partial summary judgment.
Damien Charlotin case archive
Publisher document archive. The recorded document is hosted in the upstream publisher archive.
Open underlying sourceA recorded source link is not a substitute for checking the underlying order, filing, opinion, or disciplinary record.
What this record does—and does not—establish
The court attributed the fabricated citations to generative AI or other sources.
The record summarizes the outcome described in the linked public source. The recorded document is hosted in the upstream publisher archive. This page is not a substitute for the complete docket, subsequent history, or jurisdiction-specific advice.
Latest evidence review: Primary Document Verified (high confidence).
Controls suggested by the public record
- Verify the existence, citation, court, and precedential status of every authority before filing.
- Compare every quoted passage and pincite directly with the underlying opinion or filing.
- Apply the same source-checking controls to AI (implied, unspecified) output as to any other research input.
- Read the linked source and subsequent docket history before relying on this record for legal work.