{"id":225752,"date":"2026-03-18T20:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225752\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:13:08","slug":"la-eviction-lawyer-charged-over-filing-that-contained-fake-case-law-sparking-ai-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225752\/","title":{"rendered":"LA eviction lawyer charged over filing that contained fake case law, sparking AI debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dennis Block, a prominent Los Angeles lawyer who once boasted about filing thousands of evictions every year, is facing new disciplinary charges from the California State Bar.<\/p>\n

Some of the allegations stem from a case LAist covered in 2023<\/a>, in which Block submitted a filing in eviction court that cited non-existent case law.<\/p>\n

Block didn\u2019t appear in court to explain how the brief was created. But legal experts told LAist at the time that the document appeared to have been generated by artificial intelligence, which is known to produce faulty information.<\/p>\n

The charges filed last Thursday build on previous charges filed against Block late last year. The new charges allege that by submitting the filing, Block \u201cfailed to perform with diligence\u201d and \u201ccommitted acts involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n

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If the charges against Block are proven, the State Bar proceedings could lead to him facing suspension or \u2014 in the most serious outcome \u2014 disbarment.<\/p>\n

Block referred LAist to his attorney for comment on the charges, but they didn\u2019t respond for this story.<\/p>\n

The backstory on a \u2018fabricated\u2019 court filing<\/p>\n

Over the course of nearly 50 years as an attorney, Block established his eponymous firm as a go-to resource for L.A. landlords seeking to evict their tenants. But recent actions by the State Bar have called into question his treatment of clients.<\/p>\n

In December, the bar filed a series of disciplinary charges<\/a> against Block, alleging he wrongly collected \u201cnon-refundable\u201d fees, failed to account for client charges and didn\u2019t return property in a timely manner after a client fired him.<\/p>\n

Last week, the State Bar filed a new round of charges. Some are similar to the previous allegations. But two of the new counts relate to the 2023 filing, which led to $999 in court sanctions against Block\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n

A judge at the time said the filing contained \u201can entire body of law that was fabricated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lydia Nicholson, the attorney who was defending the tenant involved in the underlying eviction case, said the charges against Block are appropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cTenants are already so vulnerable in these court cases,\u201d said Nicholson, who works with the Los Angeles Center for Community Law and Action. \u201cAnd to have that added step of basically just trying to lie to win is even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dangers of using AI in court<\/p>\n

Ari Waldman, a UC Irvine School of Law professor, said AI tools can be helpful for gathering background information about particular areas of law. But he said lawyers who use the technology to draft and file briefs without critically assessing the results should be disbarred.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the new charges against Block, Waldman said, \u201cNo responsible lawyer should ever use AI to replace critical thinking, analysis and basic research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, a landlord advocacy group, defended Block. In an email to LAist, he said the disciplinary charges are still only allegations \u2014 not proven facts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Block has shown himself to be very knowledgeable of rental housing regulations and he is a wonderful educator and presenter on the complicated regulations our members are forced to comply with,\u201d Yukelson said.<\/p>\n

During the 2023 sanctions hearing, an attorney from Block\u2019s firm blamed a recently hired lawyer for producing the fabricated filing. He said she no longer worked at the firm.<\/p>\n

But by signing the filing himself, Block vouched for its accuracy to the court, according to the State Bar.<\/p>\n

Since the 2023 case, Block has dabbled in other uses of AI. During his regular YouTube briefings for landlords, he has often included imagery that appeared to have been created with AI tools.<\/p>\n

He opened one 2025 video<\/a> with a dance pop song titled, \u201cThe Tenant From Hell.\u201d He described it as an \u201coriginal song by Dennis Block, with a lot of help from artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dennis Block, a prominent Los Angeles lawyer who once boasted about filing thousands of evictions every year, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[97826,102824,102826,48,52,51,102827,47,50,49,102825],"class_list":["post-225752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california-state-bar","tag-dennis-block","tag-eviction-lawyer","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-landlords-rights","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-state-bar-discipline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}