Medal v. Amazon.com Services, LLC
W.D. Washington · Mar 4, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- W.D. Washington
- Record ID
- medal-v-amazoncom-services-llc-2026-03-04
- Observed outcome
- The court granted the defendant's motion for an order to show cause, requiring plaintiffs' counsel to provide a detailed explanation of their research and verification practices.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The court granted a motion for an Order to Show Cause, requiring plaintiffs' counsel to explain their use of generative AI, the verification protocols in place, and the specific circumstances surrounding the inclusion of a non-existent statutory citation in a court filing.
Fabricated: Legal Norm | Plaintiffs repeatedly cited '21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(6)(D)', but that subsection does not exist; Plaintiffs' counsel admitted the citation arose from insufficiently supervised LLM use and the court called the inclusion unacceptable.
Supervise every associate's LLM output; admitting insufficient supervision escalates from warning to show-cause.
Failure modes and consequences
- Fake Citations
- Contract
- Trial
- Ordered To Show Cause
- AI attribution
- Not Established
- Recorded tool
- Unidentified
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- Order granting defendant's motion for an order to show cause.
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 order references the use of generative AI without naming a specific tool.
Retained unchanged after audit: the existing summary is source-specific, non-placeholder, and supported by the recorded source link. Read the underlying source before relying on it for legal advice or a filing.
Latest evidence review: Primary Document Verified (high confidence).
Controls suggested by the public record
- Verify each cited authority, quotation, and proposition against the underlying source before filing.
- Assign a responsible reviewer for AI-assisted research and drafting.
- Use only approved research and drafting tools for legal work.