Nguyen v. Savage Enters., No. 4:24-CV-00815-BSM (Eastern District of Ark. (E.D. ARK) Mar. 3, 2025)

Case details
Full caption
Nguyen v. Savage Enterprises
Country
United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Court
Eastern District of Arkansas (E.D. ARK)
Decided
Mar. 3, 2025
Majority
United States District (J.) (unanimous Court)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSASCENTRAL DIVISIONDIANE NGUYEN, on behalf of herselfPLAINTIFF and all others similarly situatedv. CASE NO. 4:24-CV-00815-BSM SAVAGE ENTERPRISES, et al.DEFENDANTSORDERDiane Nguyen is ordered to pay $1000 into the registry of the court as a sanction forciting nonexistent authority in support of her response to Savage Enterprises’s motion todismiss. See Doc. No. 47. Nguyen was ordered to show cause why she should not besanctioned for citing nonexistent authority. Doc. No. 55 at 11. She responded that artificialintelligence, as well as counsels’ heavy workload and personal issues, may have contributedto the errors in her response. See Doc. No. 56 at 2–4. She concludes with an apology. Seeid. at 4–6. When a party presents a pleading to the court, it is certifying that all of the claims,defenses and other legal contentions made in the pleading are warranted by existing law ora non-frivolous argument. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b); Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings, Inc. v.Sorensen, No. 4:11-CV-00807-BRW, 2012 WL 299542, at *2 (E.D. Ark. Feb. 1, 2012). “Afake opinion is not ‘existing law’ and citation to a fake opinion does not provide a non-frivolous ground for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law, or for establishing newlaw. An attempt to persuade a court or oppose an adversary by relying on fake opinions isan abuse of the adversary system.” Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F. Supp. 3d 443, 461Case 4:24-cv-00815-BSM Document 57 Filed 03/03/25 Page 1 of 2
(S.D.N.Y. 2023) (citations omitted). A reasonable sanction may be imposed when Rule11(b) is violated. See Stephen L. LaFrance Holdings, Inc., 2012 WL 299542, at *2.Nguyen’s violation of Rule 11(b) warrants a reasonable sanction, and $1000 isreasonable because it is on the low end of the range of sanctions imposed on others who haveengaged in similar conduct. See, e.g., Mata, 678 F. Supp. 3d at 466 ($5,000); Wadsworth v.Walmart Inc., No. 2:23-CV-118-KHR, 2025 WL 608073, at *8 (D. Wyo. Feb. 24, 2025)($3,000 and $1,000); United States v. Hayes, No. 2:24-CR-0280-DJC, 2025 WL 235531, at*15 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 17, 2025) ($1,500). For these reasons, Diane Nguyen has fourteen days to pay $1000 into the registry ofthe court as a sanction for citing nonexistent authority.IT IS SO ORDERED this 3rd day of March, 2025.________________________________UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE2Case 4:24-cv-00815-BSM Document 57 Filed 03/03/25 Page 2 of 2
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