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Scientology Seeks CA Supreme Court Review Over Boies Schiller AI Citation Errors

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16

Why it matters

The Church of Scientology International has petitioned the California Supreme Court to review an appellate court's decision not to sanction Boies Schiller Flexner LLP over citation errors in a brief filed during a harassment and retaliation suit. The errors—mischaracterized authorities and a completely fabricated case—were generated by artificial intelligence. Partner John Kucera acknowledged failing to verify the AI-generated citations and sought to withdraw the brief, but the lower court denied the request. The appellate court subsequently declined to impose monetary sanctions, prompting Scientology's legal team to escalate to the state's highest court.

The petition arrives days after the appellate order and signals Scientology's intent to establish precedent on how courts should penalize AI-induced legal errors. The specific details of Scientology's arguments in the petition are not yet public. It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will grant review or what standard it might adopt for sanctioning similar failures.

California law requires attorneys to personally verify all legal citations, a standard the state bar has enforced through recent fines against other practitioners. The Boies Schiller incident has already influenced practice: at least one major litigation team has banned generative AI tools from its workflow in response. Attorneys should monitor this petition closely. A Supreme Court decision could either tighten sanctions for AI citation errors or establish a higher threshold for penalties, materially affecting how firms deploy these tools and what verification protocols courts will demand going forward.

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