W.D.N.C.: Judge Matthew E. Orso, Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan (Revised 6/2026)…
Hon. Matthew E. Orso, U.S. District Judge · U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte and Statesville Divisions
Verified September 28, 2026
- Citation
- Judge Matthew E. Orso, Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan (Revised 6/2026), Section II.F: Use of AI
- Order date
- June 22, 2026
Summary
'An attorney and/or a paralegal acting at the attorney's discretion (or the party making the filing if acting pro se) must check every statement and citation in a document filed with the Court for accuracy.'
What does the order require?
- 'An attorney and/or a paralegal acting at the attorney's discretion (or the party making the filing if acting pro se) must check every statement and citation in a document filed with the Court for accuracy.'
- 'The Court may summarily strike any filing or motion from the docket, or summarily deny any motion, that contains hallucinated citations or assertions.'
- The section is part of Judge Orso's standard Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan for civil actions, which the Court enters in each case under Fed. R. Civ. P. 16 and the W.D.N.C. Local Rules.
Practice areas: federal civil
What the section requires
Judge Matthew E. Orso’s standard Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan, used in civil actions in the Charlotte and Statesville Divisions of the Western District of North Carolina, was revised in June 2026 to add a Section II.F headed “Use of AI”:
“Due to the increase in memoranda prepared using artificial intelligence (“AI”), the Court has concerns regarding the reliability and accuracy of filings. An attorney and/or a paralegal acting at the attorney’s discretion (or the party making the filing if acting pro se) must check every statement and citation in a document filed with the Court for accuracy. The Court may summarily strike any filing or motion from the docket, or summarily deny any motion, that contains hallucinated citations or assertions.”
Two features stand out. The duty is not triggered by AI use: every statement and citation in every filed document must be checked, whatever tools produced it. And the stated remedy is summary: a filing with a hallucinated citation or assertion can be struck from the docket, or a motion denied. The section describes no show-cause step before that happens.
The section requires no AI disclosure and no certification. The case management order also contains a general sanctions provision (Section VI) for noncompliance that causes added delay or expense.
How it sits with the district-wide order
Five weeks after this revision, the district’s judges, including Judge Orso, entered a district-wide order on the use of AI that makes every filing a deemed certification that authorities exist and are accurately cited and that quotations are verbatim, verified by the signer or a supervised attorney of record. Both apply in Judge Orso’s civil cases. They differ on who may do the check: this section allows an attorney or a paralegal, while the district order’s verification clause names the signatory or an attorney of record working under the signatory’s supervision.
Primary source
Judge Matthew E. Orso, Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan (Revised 6/2026) (PDF), listed on the court’s judges’ orders page.
How this order changed
Dated record of this order's own lifecycle. Where it was amended or withdrawn, the badge shows its standing after that step.
- activeSection II.F, 'Use of AI', appears in the revision of Judge Orso's standard Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan marked 'Revised 6/2026'. The December 18, 2025 version had no AI section.