Duarte v. City of Richmond

Fabricated: Case Law | Complainant cited 'R v. C.P. Rail (1994)' as authority that union affiliation is protected; the City and Tribunal could not locate the case and the Tribunal declined to rely on it, noting the 'R' criminal style and federal jurisdiction made it unlikely. Outcome: Warning. Nathan Duarte, a pro se litigant, filed a complaint against the City of Richmond alleging discrimination based on political beliefs. During the proceedings, Duarte cited three cases to support his claim that union affiliation is a protected characteristic. However, neither the City nor the Tribunal could locate these cases, leading to the suspicion that they were fabricated, possibly by a generative AI tool. The court held:"While it is not necessary for me to determine if Mr. Duarte intended to mislead the Tribunal, I cannot rely on these “authorities” he cites in his submission. At the very least, Mr. Duarte has not followed the Tribunal’s Practice Direction for Legal Authorities, which requires parties, if possible, to provide a neutral citation so other participants can access a copy of the authority without cost. Still, I am compelled to issue a caution to parties who engage the assistance of generative AI technology while preparing submissions to the Tribunal, in case that is what occurred here. AI tools may have benefits. However, such applications have been known to create information, including case law, which is not derived from real or legitimate sources. It is therefore incumbent on those using AI tools to critically assess the information that it produces, including verifying the case citations for accuracy using legitimate sources. Failure to do so can have serious consequences. For lawyers, such errors have led to disciplinary action by the Law Society: see for example, Zhang v Chen, 2024 BCSC 285. Deliberate attempts to mislead the Tribunal, or even careless submission of fabricated information, could also form the basis for an award of costs under s. 37(4) of the Code. The integrity of the Tribunal’s process, and the justice system more broadly, requires parties to exercise diligence in ensuring that their engagement with artificial intelligence does not supersede their own judgement and credibility."