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Emigration and immigration

The Risks of Using Generative AI in Litigation: A Canadian Court's Ruling on Misuse of Evidence

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

In a recent case, Hussein v. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2025 FC 1060 (CanLII), a Canadian court reprimanded a lawyer for relying on fake cases generated by a generative AI tool, Visto.ai, to bolster his legal arguments. The court found that the lawyer's failure to disclose and verify the AI-generated cases was a serious breach of court procedures, warranting an award of costs against the lawyer. This ruling highlights the risks of using generative AI in litigation and the importance of ensuring that court procedures are followed.

Key Takeaways:

  • The use of generative AI for legal research carries the risk of "hallucination," where the AI generates fake cases or evidence that may be used to mislead the court.
  • Lawyers must declare the use of AI tools and verify any cases or evidence retrieved from these tools to avoid potential personal costs awards and other sanctions.
  • Failure to follow court procedures regarding the use of AI tools may result in costs being awarded against the litigant or their lawyer.
  • The case highlights the importance of ensuring that court procedures are followed and that lawyers take responsibility for verifying the accuracy of AI-generated evidence.
  • The use of generative AI in litigation is a growing concern, and courts will likely continue to scrutinize its use in future cases.

Statistics:

  • In the past two months, we have written a few blogs dealing with the use of fake cases by lawyers.
  • The court in Hussein v. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2025 FC 1060 (CanLII), ordered that costs will either be awarded against the Applicant or his lawyer because of the use of fake cases.
  • The court struggled with the authorities relied on by the Applicant, which did not articulate the test presented and did not consider the issue of admissibility of new evidence for the first time on judicial review.
  • The court found that the Applicant's reliance on other cases was misplaced and was troubled by the Applicant's use of undeclared generative artificial intelligence on the motions.

Sources:

  • Hussein v. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2025 FC 1060 (CanLII)
  • Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2012 FCA 22

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