US District Court, District of Connecticut (Judge Vernon D. Oliver)

Barteca Holdings LLC v. Tacobarn Newtown LLC, No. 3:26-cv-00250-VDO

Sanctioned · 4 August 2026

SectorLegal

CountryUnited States

Document typeMotion to Dismiss and Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence

ConsequenceSanctioned

What was fabricated

16 defective citations across two motions — 9 in the Motion to Dismiss and 7 in the Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence — comprising quotations that do not exist in the cited opinions (Landscape Forms, Yurman Design, Chambers v. Time Warner, Friedl v. City of New York, Fonte), erroneous pin cites (Iqbal, O Zon, Kopec, Pearson v. Gesner, Starter Corp.), and misrepresentations of law (Streetwise Maps, Wilton v. Seven Falls, Cortec Industries). Defence counsel Hilary Miller drafted conventionally, then used Open Law, Claude and ChatGPT for suggested arguments and additional cases. He Shepardised every case in the brief through Lexis to confirm the cases existed — but did not verify that pin cites pointed to the right page or that quotations were accurate. No wholly non-existent case was cited.

What happened as a result

Order imposing sanctions, 4 August 2026. $3,500 monetary sanction payable to the Clerk of Court by 14 August 2026, plus referral to the District's Grievance Committee under Local Rule 83(c)(2). The Motion to Exclude Extrinsic Evidence was withdrawn and the Motion to Dismiss terminated, with leave to refile corrected. Every case, statute or authority cited in any future defence filing must carry a hyperlink to the corresponding Westlaw or Lexis entry. The court found subjective bad faith on the ground that Miller's Rule 11 signature certified knowledge he did not possess, while crediting his prompt acceptance of responsibility in mitigation. The court declined to order fee reimbursement because the sanction was raised sua sponte. NOTE: the recognisable name in the case caption is the plaintiff restaurant group, not the sanctioned party — the sanction fell on defence counsel personally.

Sources

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