Safe Choice, LLC v. City of Cleveland
N.D. Ohio · Oct 30, 2025
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- N.D. Ohio
- Record ID
- safe-choice-llc-v-city-of-cleveland-2025-10-30
- Observed outcome
- The court imposed a $7,500 monetary penalty, ordered the attorney to serve the sanction order on her client, and referred the attorney to the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.
- Known monetary consequence
- $7,500
Why this matter warrants attention
The court sanctioned attorney Arleesha Wilson $7,500 for violating Rule 11 by submitting filings containing fabricated and misrepresented case law. The court also ordered Wilson to serve the sanction order on her client and referred her conduct to the local bar association for disciplinary review.
Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney attributed the phrase 'fresh injury' to Kuhnle; court found the Sixth Circuit never used that phrase and deemed the citation misrepresented. || Fabricated: Case Law | Court could not locate this opinion; counsel conceded she could not find or certify its existence. || Fabricated: Case Law | Court could not locate this opinion; counsel conceded she could not find or certify its existence. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney claimed Jackson supports a 'custom of tolerance' Monell theory; court found Jackson addressed official policy and failure-to-train theories, not the theory advanced. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney represented Burgess as finding failure to respond could amount to ratification; court noted Burgess held after-the-fact approval insufficient to establish Monell claim. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney cited Huffman for a proposition about conspiracy; court observed the word 'conspiracy' does not appear in Huffman and the proposition was inaccurate. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney claimed Doe v. Claiborne County supports that punitive damages cannot be dismissed at pleading stage; court found 'punitive' does not appear in the opinion. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Attorney cited Conley and Doe v. Columbia Univ. for a broad proposition about damages demands at pleading stage; court found those authorities did not support the asserted proposition. || Fabricated: Case Law | Court could not locate this opinion; counsel conceded she could not find or certify its existence. || Fabricated: Case Law | Court could not locate this opinion; counsel conceded she could not find or certify its existence.
This record documents a Lawyer filing issue in N.D. Ohio, with the listed outcome: Monetary Sanction; Referral to the Bar; Order to serve decision on clinet;.
Failure modes and consequences
- Fake Citations
- Misrepresented Authority
- Civil Rights
- Trial
- Monetary
- Bar Referral
- AI attribution
- Implied
- Recorded tool
- Amicus (Casemine)
- Known monetary consequence
- $7,500
- Procedural posture
- The court issued a sua sponte Memorandum Opinion and Order imposing Rule 11 sanctions following a show-cause proceeding regarding the attorney's submission of non-existent and misrepresented legal authorities.
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 inferred the attorney used an AI tool to draft briefs.
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.
- Confirm that every authority actually supports the proposition for which it is offered.
- Ensure required disclosures are accurate and timely.
- Escalate and correct a suspect filing promptly, with a documented response.