AI “deepfake” evidence results in terminating sanctions

Tim Kowal September 25, 2025

The AI “deepfake” videos offered in support of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in this Superior Court case goes way beyond the innocent AI “hallucinations” more commonly reported. Plaintiff in Mendones v. Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., (Cal. Super. Ct. Alameda Cnty. Sept. 9, 2025 No. 23CV028772) submitted two videos that the trial judge easily concluded were fakes: they are each short video clips 7-10 seconds long that loop over and over again (remember the video loop that temporarily foiled Dennis Hopper in Speed?), with a monotone AI voice playing over it with weird and clearly digitally manipulated lip movement.

Then there were images from a Ring cam. How did the judge figure out they were manipulated? Easy: the background was pixelated black-and-white, while the subject in the foreground was in crisp color.

The court considered money sanctions, evidence and issue sanctions, and even a criminal referral, but in the end concluded the only remedy that fit the bill was terminating sanctions. The court struck the complaint with prejudice.

We have a ways to go figuring out how best to integrate AI into the legal profession. This, clearly, is not the way.

Tim Kowal is an appellate specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Tim helps trial attorneys and clients win their cases and avoid error on appeal. He co-hosts the Cal. Appellate Law Podcast at CALpodcast.com, and publishes summaries of cases and appellate tips for trial attorneys. Contact Tim at Tim@KowalLawGroup.com or (949) 676-9989.

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AI “deepfake” evidence results in terminating sanctions

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"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else." — Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. — Leviticus

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor." — Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

"Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." — Howard H. Aiken

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers." — H.L. Mencken

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody." —T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality." — Will Durant

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind." — Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." — Plato (427-347 B.C.)