A proposed wage and hour class action that drew the legal world's attention in November after the plaintiff's counsel admitted to using a half-dozen artificial intelligence tools to prepare a botched motion has now ended, with a Northern California federal judge granting a joint dismissal following a settlement agreement.
James Dal Bon used six AI tools on a memorandum he filed that was rife with hallucinated quotes and one nonexistent case citation, Judge Nathanael M. Cousins said. (iStock.com/metamorworks)
In an order Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins approved the permanent dismissal of class claims against clothing brand
Vuori Inc. from 2023. The order came less than two months after Judge Cousins sanctioned class counsel James Dal Bon, a solo practitioner, for filing a memorandum rife with hallucinated quotes and one nonexistent case citation.
Dal Bon's erroneous filing came alongside a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement agreement to end the suit.
"As a solo practitioner under time pressure, Dal Bon admits that he used about
six different AI tools to prepare his motion," Judge Cousins noted in his November sanctions order. "Dal Bon used 'each artificial intelligence program [to] check on the other' as a verification procedure. He recognizes that '[t]his was simply not enough' and that the AI tools failed to catch one another's hallucinations."
Judge Cousins found Dal Bon violated court rules by bringing the error-filled memorandum and struck his motion for preliminary approval. The judge also ordered Dal Bon to pay $250 to the clerk of court and referred him to the court's professional conduct committee for consideration of discipline or other remedies it saw fit.
In December, Dal Bon entered a receipt into the record, showing he had paid the monetary sanction.
Although Judge Cousins wrote in his November order that he "cannot find Dal Bon is adequate class counsel based on his representation in the case thus far," Dal Bon was not formally removed from the case, and this week's joint dismissal motion bears his signature alongside Vuori's counsel.
The confidential individual settlement ends claims first brought by named plaintiff Terrence Buchanan, accusing the clothing company of underpaying him and other class members for overtime work and bonuses he earned during his period of employment at Vuori. Vuori denied Buchanan's allegations.
Under the terms of the settlement, Buchanan agreed to end his claims against his onetime employer permanently.
Counsel for Buchanan and Vuori did not immediately respond to Law360's request for comment Friday.
Terrence Buchanan is represented by James Dal Bon of Wisdom Law Group APC.
Vuori is represented by Lindsay Hutner and Samuel S. Hyde of
Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The case is Buchanan v. Vuori Inc., case number
5:23-cv-01121, in the
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
--Additional reporting by Andrea Keckley. Editing by Drashti Mehta.
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