By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday rebuked a Florida lawyer and county official for filing briefs riddled with what it called “fake and hallucinated” material generated by artificial intelligence and issued a broad warning against outsourcing legal work carelessly to AI.

In its order, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said attorney Anthony Sabatini of Mount Dora, Florida, submitted multiple briefs in a commercial aviation employment case that included citations to cases that do not exist.

“By outsourcing his legal work to an AI algorithm, Sabatini violated his ethical duties to both his clients and this Court,” the three-judge panel wrote. The court also said: “Whatever the merits of artificial intelligence, it is no substitute for actual intelligence.”

Sabatini, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives who serves on the board of commissioners for Florida’s Lake County, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Atlas Air, the commercial airline that was a defendant in the lawsuit, and a lawyer for the company at Jones Day did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The appeals court’s order on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by Sabatini's clients, who are current or former employees of Atlas and one of its contractors. The employees challenged the two companies' pandemic-era policies for masks and vaccination. Atlas denied any wrongdoing.

Artificial ​intelligence tools can ​make up case citations, ⁠misquote the law or generate non-existent legal sources. Lawyers are not barred from using AI for legal research and drafting but must follow court and professional rules requiring them to verify court submissions.

State and federal courts across the country have disciplined attorneys for using generative AI tools without vetting the results.

Sabatini apologized to the appeals court last year for submitting legal filings that included what he described as “erroneous or unverifiable” case citations. He said the errors “stemmed from research oversights."

The court panel said that lawyers who rely on AI have an obligation to ensure their work is accurate. The panel said the 11th Circuit's chief judge will refer Sabatini to the court's Committee on Lawyer Qualifications and Conduct.

The case is Patrick Akerlund et al v. Atlas Air Inc et al, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-11033.

For plaintiffs: Anthony Sabatini of Sabatini Law Firm

For defendant: Alexander Maugeri of Jones Day

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