Michael J. Cross v. PHH Mortgage Corporation, et al.
D. Oregon · Jun 29, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- D. Oregon
- Record ID
- michael-j-cross-v-phh-mortgage-corporation-et-al-2026-06-29
- Observed outcome
- The court denied the plaintiff's motion for injunctive relief and issued an admonishment regarding the use of fake legal citations.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The court admonished the pro se plaintiff for citing a non-existent case in his motion for injunctive relief. The judge explicitly noted that the cited authority was fake and reminded the litigant of the duty to verify the existence and validity of all legal authorities relied upon in court filings.
The court reasoned that the plaintiff failed to meet the threshold requirements for injunctive relief under the Winter factors. Regarding the citation, the court reasoned that relying on fake opinions constitutes an abuse of the adversary system and violates the duty to confirm the validity of legal authorities.
This case illustrates judicial scrutiny of legal research in pro se filings. It reinforces that courts expect all litigants, regardless of representation status, to verify the existence and validity of cited authorities to avoid sanctions or admonishments.
Failure modes and consequences
- Pro Se
- Fake Citations
- Other
- Trial
- Warning
- AI attribution
- Reported
- Recorded tool
- AI (implied, unspecified)
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- The court issued an Opinion and Order denying the plaintiff's Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction.
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
AI (implied, unspecified) is recorded in the source dataset; confirm the basis in the linked document.
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.
- 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.