Emergency applications at the social courts more than doubled in a year
Emergency applications +106%, lawsuits +21%; briefs cite judgments that do not exist; every other case waits longer.
Who pays: every other litigant, whose case waits
Merton101 · Category
Courts and tribunals
4 verified cases
filings, appeals, emergency applications, litigants without lawyers. Every case below was checked against its sources by a second model before it entered.
The cases
AI Faked Citations In More Than 2,000 Cases As Google Pitches Legal Model
AI-generated citations and hallucinations appeared in at least 2,022 court decisions worldwide between April 2023 and September 2026, forcing courts to identify fake authorities, issue warnings, and sanction filers.
Who pays: Judges, court clerks, and opposing counsel who expend time attempting to verify non-existent citations, as well as litigants harmed by ungrounded filings
FWC hit by wave of AI-assisted dismissal claims from Uber drivers
Unfair dismissal claims involving gig workers surged from virtually none to 500 in the first year, creating a backlog of unresolved cases at the commission.
Who pays: The Fair Work Commission tribunal through an administrative backlog and case delays
Rise of Hallucinated Citations in Legal Filings Spawns Verification Tool Industry
Lawyers submit court briefs containing invented cases, altered holding details, and erroneous citations produced by AI editing tools, prompting judicial orders and sanctions.
Who pays: Judges, clerks, and opposing counsel who must cross-examine citations, along with law firms purchasing secondary verification software