In a scathing 33-page order, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla outlined three separate instances where solo practitioner Steven A. Feldman filed documents with nonexistent cases or misattributed quotes, saying she has to enter default judgment against his client, Affable Avenue LLC.
"Although Mr. Feldman at times purported to claim full responsibility for the errors, he undermined this acceptance of responsibility by repeatedly minimizing his behavior and offering improbable explanations," Judge Failla said.
Feldman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Affable was one of several defendants in a 2024 complaint filed by Flycatcher Corp. Ltd. and Flycatcher Toys Inc., which alleged online storefronts were selling their toys at unusually low prices. Flycatcher alleged the toys had been stolen from three trucks going to Walmart, but the defendants are not accused of the theft. The case is ongoing.
Judge Failla said "the trouble began" for Feldman when he submitted a motion to dismiss in June that had numerous false citations. The judge asked Feldman to explain why she should not strike his brief, and he responded by saying his submission's errors "resulted from sophisticated AI hallucination mechanisms rather than intentional misconduct."
The July 11 response from Feldman was notable for its florid prose, an extended passage of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," and a reference to scribes "in the ancient libraries of Ashurbanipal," which the judge called an "out-of-left-field invocation."
"Needless to say, Mr. Feldman's overwrought metaphors and historical references raised the court's eyebrows," Judge Failla said.
The court set a conference for Aug. 22 for "Feldman to explain himself," but "more bad news quickly followed," Judge Failla said, with counsel for co-defendant Top Experience Co. notifying her that a brief Feldman had filed weeks earlier to further support Affable's motion to dismiss contained a citation error again. Counsel for Top Experience had previously notified the court of Feldman's erroneous citation in his initial motion to dismiss.
Things didn't go well for Feldman during the Aug. 22 conference, Judge Failla said.
"Mr. Feldman struggled to make eye contact with the court and described an approach to legal research that was redolent of Rube Goldberg," the judge said, adding that "the court was left to draw its own conclusions."
Judge Failla said any damages assessed against Affable would be assessed when the case against the other defendants is resolved.
"The court has devoted so much time to limning the procedural history of this case to make a point: Mr. Feldman was not dissuaded by court orders or the threat of sanctions from filing unchecked, AI-generated submissions with false legal citations," Judge Failla said.
The judge emphasized near the start of her order that she does not oppose using AI to help with research and writing, but said the court "must take a stand where, as here, counsel repeatedly files submissions with false citations because counsel refuses to verify those submissions."
Flycatcher Corp. is represented by Tal S. Benschar and Efrem T. Schwalb of Koffsky Schwalb LLC.
Affable is represented by Steven A. Feldman of the Law Office of Steven A. Feldman & Associates PLLC.
The case is Flycatcher Corp. Ltd. et al. v. Affable Avenue LLC et al., case number 1:24-cv-09429, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
--Additional reporting by Jack Karp and Andrea Keckley. Editing by Janice Carter Brown.
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