Office of Bar Counsel

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 48 No. 2 Pg. 10
• Pages: 10

Office of Bar Counsel No. Vol. 48 No. 2 Pg. 10 Wyoming Bar Journal April, 2025

Mark W. Gifford

Wadsworth v. Walmart: A Cautionary Tale

In a decision that made national legal news last month, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming fired a warning shot across the bow of lawyers serving as local counsel and reiterated the dangers—and costs—of overreliance on Generative AI.

Wadsworth v. Walmart, Inc.^[1] is a product liability action filed in 2023 for personal injuries allegedly caused by a defective hoverboard. Plaintiffs were represented by T. Michael Morgan and Rud-win Ayala of the Orlando, Florida, firm of Morgan & Morgan, RA.^[2] Local counsel was Taly Goody, a Wyoming-licensed attorney whose office is in Palos Verde Estates, California.^[3] Morgan and Ayala are not licensed in Wyoming and were admitted pro hac vice on Goody's motion.

The pleading that landed all three lawyers in hot water with the court is a motion in limine filed January 22, 2025. The motion was drafted by Ayala at the direction of Morgan. Ayala used an Al platform to generate case citations in support of the motion.

The pleading that landed all three lawyers in hot water with the court is a motion in limine filed January 22, 2025. The motion was drafted by Ayala at the direction of Morgan. Ayala used an Al platform to generate case citations in support of the motion. Neither Morgan nor Goody were involved in drafting or reviewing the motion prior to its filing. However, the electronic signatures of all three attorneys were on the filing.

On February 6, 2025, United States District Judge Kelly H. Rankin ordered Morgan, Ayala and Goody to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for violating Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.^[4] Judge Rankins order to show cause pointed to the nine case citations in the motion in limine, eight of which appeared to be fake.

The three lawyers' responses to the order explained that Ayala had drafted the motion using AL Ayala admitted that the cases are non-existent and his reliance on the AI platform was misplaced. Neither Morgan nor Goody were provided with the motion prior to filing, nor were they aware it had been drafted using AL Upon discovery of the hallucinated case citations, Morgan immediately contacted defense counsel, apologized for the errors in the motion in limine and offered to pay all attorneys' fees and costs associated with responding to the...