Sophia Madigan v. Graco Inc.
D. Minnesota · Feb 4, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- D. Minnesota
- Record ID
- sophia-madigan-v-graco-inc-2026-02-04
- Observed outcome
- Summary judgment granted for defendant; court issued a warning regarding fabricated citations.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The court issued a warning to the plaintiff's counsel after identifying multiple fabricated case law citations in the plaintiff's filings. The court noted that the cited decisions either did not exist at the provided locations or were unrelated to the arguments presented, highlighting a failure in the attorney's duty to verify legal authority.
Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff cited "LaPoint v. Family Orthodontics, P.A., 2020 WL 6118773 (D. Minn. Oct. 16, 2020)" for a point about HR treating a doctor's note as optional; the court found the decision at that citation is an unrelated SEC case and the Minnesota Supreme Court LaPoint decision exists but does not support plaintiff's contention. || Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff cited "Hernandez v. Best Buy Co., 2012 WL 1970771 (D. Minn. May 31, 2012)" to support an MPLA argument; the court found no such decision at that citation (the citation corresponds to an unrelated Sixth Circuit insurance case). Court noted the citation was incorrect after defendant pointed it out.
Verify every Westlaw citation against the primary source before filing; opposing counsel will catch fabrications.
Failure modes and consequences
- Fake Citations
- Employment
- Trial
- Warning
- AI attribution
- Not Established
- Recorded tool
- Unidentified
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- Summary judgment granted in favor of defendant.
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 current record does not establish a specific AI tool. Do not infer AI use beyond the source.
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.
- Retain a matter-level record of source checks and corrections.