Katt Williams assault case takes bizarre turn with AI-created arguments

A lawsuit accusing Georgia-based comedian Katt Williams of assaulting four women outside an Atlanta club has taken a bizarre turn after the women’s lawyer admitted she filed legal arguments created by her daughter using artificial intelligence.

The lawyer, Jonesboro-based Loletha Hale, now wants the federal judge overseeing the case to recuse himself, saying he was disrespectful and condescending toward her in a recent hearing while discussing her mistake. She said it is reasonable to believe that U.S. District Judge William Ray has “a personal bias or prejudice” against her.

Hale said in her Sept. 12 recusal request that she accidentally filed an “AI-generated” brief her daughter created, mistaking it for a correct version. Hale, a solo practitioner, said she was preoccupied because her best friend from law school was being eulogized that day.

In a Sept. 8 order, Ray said Hale had asked her daughter, who is not an attorney or a paralegal, to draft the brief. He said it cited 24 cases, of which 17 either do not exist, are not relevant or were misquoted.

Ray ordered Hale to appear before him on Sept. 29 to show why she shouldn’t be sanctioned, saying she “failed to take even that most basic of actions to review the cases cited.”

“There is nothing fundamentally improper in the use of AI tools to draft a brief,” Ray wrote. “Rather, it is counsel’s abdication of her responsibility to ensure that the signed brief she provided to the Court was accurate that is the basis for possible imposition of Rule 11 sanctions in this case.”

Hale did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about the case.

It is not the first time she has flubbed the litigation.

In November 2022, Ray threw out the case because Hale had failed to serve Williams with the lawsuit she initially filed in January that year, after Ray had granted her request for a 45-day extension. Hale refiled the suit, seeking at least $5 million for each plaintiff, in February 2023.

Hale also failed to ask the court’s permission to amend the complaint in June 2024, court filings show. Ray ultimately let Hale file an amended complaint, with fewer claims against Williams, after she asked properly.

In their suit, North Carolina residents Selena Boston, Jalisa Rhodes, Lutisha Martinez and Lanette Washington claimed they encountered Williams and his entourage outside a lounge on West Peachtree Street in Atlanta around 2 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2016. They said Boston and Martinez asked Williams to take photos with them, which he did.

The women alleged Williams got angry when Boston lost interest and that insults were exchanged before they were physically attacked by Williams, three of his female associates and some of his security staff.

The assault on Boston included “striking her about her head with their fists, kicking and stomping her with their feet and ripping the crotch from her clothing,” the complaint says. It alleges Williams snatched the plaintiffs’ cellphones and shoes and threw them across the street.

When the plaintiffs were trying to leave in their vehicle, Williams stood in front of it and pointed a gun at them while “flashing” gang signs, the complaint says, adding Williams also spat on the vehicle.

The latest drama began in July 2025, when Williams sought to end the lawsuit in his favor, saying the women’s claims are meritless and that they took too long — 10 months — to serve him with their refiled complaint.

The plaintiffs’ lack of diligence is egregious, Williams said in a July 16 brief. He added that he did not harm any of the women, and said they started the alleged altercation and took a chain from him.