Aug. 23, 2026 6 AM PT
To the editor: Made-up case law from attorneys for State Farm in a case handled by its private counsel (cited in the Los Angeles Times as Jacquelene Robinson of Musick, Peeler & Garrett) is beyond comprehension (“AI hallucinated case law in insurance company’s filings in L.A. County house fire dispute,” Aug. 19). As a retired lawyer, all I can say is I never filed case law authority without actually reading the court decision — in this case, Robinson said she failed to fact-check an AI program’s citations. Furthermore, a large private firm’s attorney cited this case. Doesn’t a senior lawyer have the responsibility to review the subordinate’s work product?
Finally, doesn’t State Farm have a general counsel and legal staff that monitors and checks the work product of its hired lawyers? What is going on in today’s legal world that allows a machine to produce phony law that is used in court and had to be pointed out by the attorney suing State Farm?
Michael Harvey Miller, Pasadena