Extract from Doug Austin’s article “Deepfake Videos and Images Lead to Terminating Sanctions”
In Mendones v. Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., No.: 23CV028772 (Cal. Super. Sept. 9, 2025), California State Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski found “that a terminating sanction is appropriate” after the Court determined that several exhibits provided by Plaintiffs were deepfake videos and images.
Case Discussion and Judge’s Ruling
In this case, Plaintiffs moved for summary judgment in March 2025. In support, Plaintiffs provided several documents as exhibits. As Judge Kolakowski stated: “Upon review, the Court suspected Plaintiffs’ exhibits 3, 6A, 6B, 6C, 7, 21, 27, 35, and 40 of having been altered or created by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). For instance, exhibits 6A, 6C, and 36 purport to capture the speech and image of Geri Haas. But, while exhibit 36 appears to capture a real-life interaction, certain characteristics of exhibits 6A and 6C, such as the lack of facial expressions, the looping video feed, among other things, suggested that these exhibits were products of GenAI—i.e., ‘deepfakes.’”
