AI Pro Se

The New York Appelate Division for the First Judicial Department has affirmed the dismissal of a legal malpractice action and cautioned the pro se appellant about the use of artificial intelligence in his brief

Plaintiff’s legal malpractice claim against his union-appointed attorney who represented him in arbitration is preempted by Federal labor law, as “attorneys who perform services for and on behalf of a union may not be held liable in malpractice to individual grievants where the services performed constitute part of the collective bargaining process” (Mamorella v Derkasch, 276 AD2d 152, 155 [4th Dept 2000]).

Plaintiff’s claims against his union, Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY), and its legal director, arising from their selection of an allegedly biased arbitrator are barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel based on this Court’s resolution of that issue in plaintiff’s prior appeals

The court notes

Plaintiff cites several nonexistent cases in his initial memorandum of law. In his reply brief he acknowledges that these citations were the result of research using “legal software applications” that deploy artificial intelligence. Plaintiff avers that he has an LLM (among other advanced degrees) but not much “legal expertise” and he apologizes for the fictitious precedents. We caution plaintiff that his pro se status does not excuse his failure to check the legal citations that he offers to a court.

(Mike Frisch)