Mato Grosso Labor Court sanctions lawyer for AI‑generated fake precedents

The 1st Panel of the Regional Labor Court of Mato Grosso (TRT‑MT) ruled that a lawyer had cited five non‑existent jurisprudential precedents—likely produced by an artificial‑intelligence tool—in a labor claim. The court transferred the bad‑faith litigation fine originally imposed on the client to the lawyer, ordered an official notice to the Mato Grosso Bar Association (OAB‑MT) to investigate the lawyer’s conduct, and rejected the employer’s request to raise the fine from 2% to 10% of the claim value.

The panel stressed that verifying the authenticity of cited precedents is a technical duty exclusive to attorneys and that a lay client cannot be held liable for such technical errors. It also found the employer guilty of document tampering, imposing a separate 5% fine. While noting the absence of specific legislation on AI‑generated content, the court affirmed that existing good‑faith and procedural loyalty obligations apply to all participants in the judicial process.