A U.S. District Court in Illinois has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a small Illinois law firm. The small firm sued DoNotPay, an online site that provides contracts, offers legal advice for appealing traffic tickets and procedures for property tax appeals. It is an artificial intelligence website. According to the law firm, MillerKing, the website claims to be affiliated with licensed attorneys, but is not.
The Judge ruled that MillerKing did not show that it had standing for the suit. MillerKing claimed it suffered decreased business and suffered harm to its reputation. But, the Judge did not agree that those harms were actual harms.
DoNotPay is not licensed to practice law. So, it was also accused of unauthorized practice of law. The Court allowed MillerKing to amend its complaint and perhaps add sufficient facts to show standing.
A similar lawsuit is pending in California. But, that lawsuit was filed by an aggrieved customer. See ABA Bar Journal news report here.