Steven E. Hobbs, Sr. v. Igor Goncharko, et al. (2)
N.D. Illinois · Jan 16, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- N.D. Illinois
- Record ID
- steven-e-hobbs-sr-v-igor-goncharko-et-al-2-2026-01-16
- Observed outcome
- The court issued a warning to the plaintiff regarding the use of hallucinated citations and denied the Landlord Defendants' motion to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The court issued a formal warning to the pro se plaintiff regarding the inclusion of hallucinated and mis-cited case law in his filings. While the court declined to impose immediate sanctions, it explicitly cautioned that future submissions containing such errors could result in dismissal of the case with prejudice.
Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff twice cited a non-existent case Lathan v. Brinkerhoff; court identified it as fictitious and previously warned about it. || Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff mis-cited 'City of Chicago v. Matchmaker' (court treated it as an incorrect/fictitious citation in plaintiff's brief). || Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff cited 'Oconomowoc v. Greenfield,' a mis-citation distinct from the real Oconomowoc Residential Programs precedent referenced by the court. || Fabricated: Case Law | Plaintiff cited 'Vargas v. Cook Cnty. Sheriff' in his brief; court listed it among the mis-citations in the response. || Misrepresented: Case Law | Plaintiff invoked Bloch v. Frischholz for the proposition that statistical evidence is not required; court explained Bloch does not support that conclusion and was misrepresented.
This record documents a Pro Se Litigant filing issue in N.D. Illinois, with the listed outcome: Warning.
Failure modes and consequences
- Hallucinated_case_law
- Misrepresented_legal_authority
- Pro Se
- Fake Citations
- Misrepresented Authority
- Civil Rights
- AI attribution
- Implied
- Recorded tool
- AI (implied, unspecified)
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- Memorandum Opinion and Order on defendants' motions to dismiss the plaintiff's second amended complaint.
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 refers to the plaintiff's conduct as hallucinating citations.
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.