A legislative committee Thursday voted to delay a legal services contract between the Alabama Department of Corrections and an attorney removed from a case after a colleague used AI to generate a brief that contained fabricated citations.
The vote by the Contract Review Committee puts a 45-day hold on the contract between the department and attorney William Lunsford with Butler Snow LLP to defend the department in a lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate who died by suicide at Donaldson Correctional Facility.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, raised questions about the length of time the case has been litigated and asked Chief Deputy Attorney General Clay Crenshaw about the state’s strategy for ultimately finding a resolution in the matter.
“It appears that if we would have taken every plaintiff across the state, in cases that have sued the Alabama Department of Corrections, and put them in a room and said, ‘How much would it cost to settle these cases if we just gave you a sum right now?’ We probably would have spent infinitely less money than we have on the lawyers on these cases,” England said during the committee meeting.
Sen. Tom Butler, R-Madison, requested the hold after England voiced his concerns.
“I hope to get, at the very least, answers about how many cases are pending, how much money we are paying for them, and ultimately, what is the expected resolution,” England told reporters after the meeting. “Are we going to try the case, are we going to settle the case, what?”
The Contract Review Committee has the authority to delay finalizing contracts awarded by government agencies for up to 45 days but cannot compel the executive branch from rescinding them.
According to the agenda, the case is pending, and a new contract is needed so that the Alabama Department of Corrections may retain representation in the case. Crenshaw said the case was previously handled by Butler Snow attorney Matthew B. Reeves, who with Lunsford and attorney William J. Cranford was removed from a lawsuit after Reeves used AI to generate a legal brief that included citations to nonexistent cases.
Crenshaw said Reeves “has been removed from any representation involving ADOC.”
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco ordered all three removed from the case, referred the matter to the Alabama Bar Association and other licensing agencies and issued a public reprimand.
Lunsford has been awarded millions of dollars in contracts to represent the Department of Corrections in lawsuits. He was awarded a legal services contract in December for $4.68 million. Lunsford was also awarded a legal services contract for $7.68 million in June 2023.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” said Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, regarding awarding the contract to Lunsford. “I understand the details of how they got here. A major mistake was made, the court has already dealt with them on that, but he has done a lot of work for the state.”
Members of the Contract Review Committee also awarded a $200,000 contract to attorney H. William Bloom of Maynard Nexsen to represent Gov. Kay Ivey in a lawsuit filed by Kent Davis, the former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.
Ivey terminated Davis soon after members of the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs voted to retain him during a meeting in October, citing broad executive powers. Davis filed an ethics complaint against Kim Boswell, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health.
Davis then filed a lawsuit in June alleging that he was wrongfully terminated and that Ivey violated his right to constitutional rights, such as free speech and due process.
“The Governor’s Office does not have the staff necessary to serve as lead counsel in this case,” the agenda states.