A Kankakee County judge granted a motion by the attorneys representing Prime Healthcare, the company that owns St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee, asking for sanctions against the Kankakee County State’s Attorney’s office.

Associate Judge Andrew Purcell made the ruling on Wednesday following a hearing.

The county must pay for the costs of Prime Healthcare’s Chicago law firm of BakerHostetler regarding the motion, Purcell said.

Attorney Ryan Hedges argued that in two responses to their motion to dismiss the case, the state’s attorney’s office had stated incorrect information generated by AI.

“The focus here is not the misuse of artificial intelligence to conduct unreliable legal research and drafting,” Purcell said in making his decision.

“It is the inexcusable submission of false authority and factual arguments to the court, the subsequent misrepresentations about the extent of the improper conduct and the failure to take prompt responsibility for errors once discovered.”

Kankakee County Assistant State’s Attorney John Coughlan said nobody had a concept that there was any AI involved in this.

Prosecutors utilized Google Scholar.

“There’s nothing that would indicate to you that, in fact, Google Scholar was using AI,” Coughlan said.

“You have three lawyers, you have two paralegals, probably over 100 years worth of legal experience between all those players, and we didn’t check the sites. We admit to that. That’s something that we did. It was a mistake.”

But it was not intentional, Coughlan added. They were prepared to correct that mistake.

“But we don’t think the sanctions are appropriate,” Coughlan said.

In his final argument, Hedges said the intent was irrelevant. The standard is a reasonable inquiry.

“And they also just admitted to you this morning they made no reasonable inquiry into the citations in their brief,” Hedges said. “They relied on, and I think I’m quoting this right, almost 100 years of experience between their attorneys and paralegals who read this, who read the output of Google Scholar, and didn’t make a reasonable inquiry into what the citations contained in the brief. I believe counsel said they relied on an assumption. Your Honor, that’s an admission. They didn’t make a reasonable inquiry.”

State’s Attorney Jim Rowe said it was the first time his office has had a motion for sanctions involving AI aiding research.

“We do not have AI programming in our office,” Rowe said in April.

After Wednesday’s ruling, Rowe said he could not disagree with the court.

“The citations were mis-cited. We attempted to correct them within 48 hours, but that does not excuse the mistakes,” Rowe said. “AI in litigation is new, and there was no indication the legal research platform was an AI-based platform; but as the court said, intent is not the issue here. We move forward and will now file an amended pleading so the case can continue to hearing and trial.”

Case history

Rowe is asking the court to approve a temporary restraining order against Prime Healthcare, which took ownership of St. Mary’s in March 2025.

In the complaint filed in June 2025, Rowe argued that Prime Healthcare was not being honest when it provided testimony before the state health facilities board regarding Prime Healthcare’s acquisition of St. Mary’s and seven other hospitals from Ascension.

That public hearing was held in September 2024 in Kankakee by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.

During the hearing, Fred Ortega, corporate director of public relations for Prime Healthcare, affirmed in his statement to the board that “Prime Healthcare has committed to continuing all services at these facilities and hopes to expand services based upon community needs,” according to a court filing.

When taking over the hospitals, Prime said no changes would occur for 18 to 24 months as it studied the cost of services being offered.

The board approved the sale in December 2024, and Prime Healthcare took ownership on March 1, 2025.

Since formally taking ownership of the nonprofit St. Mary’s Hospital and other facilities, Prime has eliminated the childbirth, labor and delivery services in Kankakee, as well as patient care managers. These actions occurred less than 50 days after the sale was closed, Rowe argued in the original filing.

In Prime Healthcare’s motion to dismiss, they argue that Prime requested a voluntary suspension of its Level II trauma designation from the state based on its lack of OB surgical coverage.

The health care company said every service-line change has followed all applicable requirements of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The motion to dismiss said that the complaint must allege facts supporting the essential elements of a cause of action.

The motion to dismiss also said that Rowe’s office does not have the authority to bring this case under the state’s Planning Act.

That responsibility belongs to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Attorney General.