Black Oak Capital BOCA, LLC v. Paul Evans, LLC
U.S. District Court, District of Utah · D. Utah · Utah bar guidance
Verified May 14, 2026
- Citation
- Black Oak Capital BOCA, LLC v. Paul Evans, LLC, No. 2:24-cv-00209-DBB-DBP, ECF No. 83 (D. Utah Dec. 4, 2025) (Barlow, J.)
- Decided
- December 4, 2025
Summary
Defendants' counsel Mr. Crane filed an Opposition to Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Counterclaim that cited two nonexistent cases, Rawson v. Mathews, 212 P.3d 752 (Utah 2009) and Equilon Enters. v. Ford Motor Co., 2010 UT 44, in support of an equitable tolling argument, and additionally misquoted Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Assocs., 483 U.S. 143 (1987) by attributing language not found in the case. Mr. Crane explained the hallucinated citations came from "a colleague's writings." District Judge David Barlow held that reliance on a colleague's work product does not satisfy Rule 11's nondelegable duty of reasonable inquiry, and found a Rule 11(b)(2) violation.
- AI tool:
- Unspecified generative AI
What sanction did the court impose?
No monetary sanction. Mr. Crane was ordered to read all of the cases and authorities cited in the court's opinion and file a summary statement with the court certifying that he had done so within 30 days of the order. The court declined Plaintiffs' request for monetary sanctions, noting that significant portions of the sanctions briefing were not well taken.
Why does Black Oak Capital BOCA, LLC v. Paul Evans, LLC matter for law firms using AI?
Black Oak is a useful counterpoint to the monetary-sanction cases: Judge Barlow imposed only a remedial reading-and-certification order, not a fine, and explicitly declined Plaintiffs’ request for monetary sanctions. For a managing partner, the case underscores two things. First, “I got the cases from a colleague” is not a defense; the Rule 11 duty of inquiry is nondelegable per Pavelic & LeFlore. Second, even where a court treats the violation as serious enough for Rule 11(b)(2) findings, a clean remediation record and credible go-forward controls can move the sanction from dollars to a CLE-style remedial order, which is the leverage point a firm’s AI policy is meant to create.
Sources
Primary sources
Further reading
Source PDF is a Westlaw printout mirrored from the Damien Charlotin hallucination database. We are working to add the underlying court docket (PACER, CourtListener, or court website) as a second source.
- CourtListener docket page for 2:24-cv-00209-DBB-DBP not directly retrieved during verification; primary fact source is the verbatim court order PDF (ECF No. 83).