CIVIC LANE
A Dutch lawyer cited a Supreme Court judgment that did not exist during litigation over a company sale. The opposing side argued that the citation appeared to be an AI hallucination, although the lawyer denied using AI. The lawyer could not identify a source for the supposed judgment. The court said proving AI use was unnecessary because submitting non-existent case law had itself created avoidable costs. The case raises a much bigger question about professional responsibility when lawyers use or potentially rely on automated research tools.