Coomer v. Lindell/MyPillow, Inc. (1)
D. Colorado · Jul 7, 2025
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- D. Colorado
- Record ID
- coomer-v-lindellmypillow-inc-1-2025-07-07
- Observed outcome
- The court sanctioned Christopher I. Kachouroff and his law firm $3,000, and Jennifer T. DeMaster $3,000, for Rule 11 violations.
- Known monetary consequence
- $6,000
Why this matter warrants attention
The court sanctioned two attorneys $3,000 each for Rule 11 violations after they submitted a brief containing fabricated and misrepresented case law. The court determined that counsel failed to perform a reasonable inquiry into the accuracy of their citations, which were generated or processed using various AI tools, and failed to verify the resulting work product before filing.
The court reasoned that counsel violated Rule 11(b)(2) by certifying legal contentions that were not warranted by existing law. It found that counsel failed to exercise the required competence and care, noting that blind reliance on AI or co-counsel does not excuse the duty of candor and the obligation to verify citations. The court determined that the $3,000 sanctions were the least severe measures necessary to deter future litigation abuse.
Paid tools like Westlaw AI are not a defense; Rule 11 requires you to personally verify every cite, regardless of which platform produced it.
Failure modes and consequences
- Fake Citations
- Fabricated Quotes
- Misrepresented Authority
- Tort
- Trial
- Monetary
- AI attribution
- Admitted
- Recorded tool
- Co-Pilot, Westlaw’s AI, Gemini, Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity
- Known monetary consequence
- $6,000
- Procedural posture
- The court issued an Order to Show Cause following the submission of a deficient Opposition to Motion in Limine, subsequently making the order absolute and imposing monetary sanctions.
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
Counsel confirmed use of multiple AI tools including Co-Pilot, Westlaw AI, Gemini, Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
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.
- Confirm that each authority supports the stated proposition and has not been mischaracterized.
- Escalate unresolved verification failures before filing and preserve the responsible reviewer's signoff record.