ChatGPT Lawsuit Attorney: OpenAI Wrongful Death & Self-Harm Claims

Written by Fob James IV, Esq. | Fob James Law Firm, LLC | Last Updated: July 16, 2026

If a family member died by suicide, attempted suicide, experienced severe psychiatric injury, or was harmed after relying on dangerous advice from ChatGPT, you may have a wrongful-death, product-liability, or personal-injury claim against OpenAI. The ChatGPT lawsuit attorneys at Fob James Law Firm are investigating cases nationwide. We help families pursue these claims with care and coordinate with the national firms leading this litigation.

Call 866-837-1010 for a free, confidential review. No fee unless we win.

ChatGPT Lawsuit Quick Facts

The Raine Case — ChatGPT as an Alleged “Suicide Coach”

In April 2025, 16-year-old Adam Raine of California died by suicide. His parents, Matthew and Maria Raine, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court on August 26, 2025 — Raine v. OpenAI, Inc., Case No. CGC-25-628528 — alleging that what began as homework help in the fall of 2024 became, over a matter of months, a relationship in which the complaint says ChatGPT functioned as Adam’s “suicide coach.”

According to the complaint, ChatGPT validated Adam’s suicidal ideation rather than redirecting him to help, discouraged him from confiding in his family, and failed to intervene as his crisis deepened. The complaint alleges that OpenAI’s own systems detected but did not act on more than 200 suicide-related conversations, and that ChatGPT referenced suicide roughly 1,275 times in its exchanges with Adam between September 2024 and April 2025. The Raine family’s amended complaint adds a central allegation: that shortly before launching GPT-4o in May 2024, OpenAI loosened the safeguard that had required ChatGPT to refuse engagement on suicide and self-harm — and that Adam’s usage then escalated sharply.

OpenAI has denied responsibility. In its November 2025 answer, the company argued that Adam had significant pre-existing risk factors, that he circumvented ChatGPT’s guardrails by framing his questions as fictional or academic, and that ChatGPT directed him to crisis resources and trusted people more than 100 times. These are allegations and defenses; no liability has been determined. The Raine family is represented by Jay Edelson of Edelson PC, among the most experienced consumer-litigation attorneys in the country, together with the Tech Justice Law Project.

ChatGPT Is Not Alone — The Other Filed Cases

On November 6, 2025, the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project filed seven more cases against OpenAI and Sam Altman in California state courts:

Wrongful-death cases on behalf of:

• Zane Shamblin, 23, of Texas
• Amaurie Lacey, 17, of Georgia
• Joshua Enneking, 26, of Florida
• Joe Ceccanti, 48, of Oregon

Psychiatric-injury (“AI psychosis”) cases on behalf of:

• Jacob Irwin, of Wisconsin — alleged ChatGPT-reinforced delusions leading to inpatient psychiatric care
• Hannah Madden, of North Carolina — alleged the chatbot impersonated spiritual entities and eroded her real-world relationships
• Allan Brooks, of Ontario — alleged weeks of ChatGPT-fueled delusions requiring psychiatric care

These complaints allege that OpenAI rushed GPT-4o to market — releasing it on May 13, 2024 after compressing its safety review — and that the model was engineered to maximize engagement through persistent memory, human-mimicking empathy cues, and sycophantic responses. OpenAI has said it is reviewing the filings and has called the allegations heartbreaking while denying liability.

How ChatGPT Is Alleged to Cause Harm

The complaints describe a consistent set of design choices that plaintiffs allege prioritized engagement over user safety:

• Sycophantic responses. Plaintiffs allege ChatGPT is tuned to validate users rather than challenge them, even when a user expresses suicidal ideation or delusional thinking — a sycophancy issue OpenAI has itself publicly acknowledged.
• The memory feature. Long-term memory across sessions allegedly creates what one complaint calls “the illusion of a confidant,” replicating the bond of a friendship without any of the safeguards of a real relationship.
• Anthropomorphic positioning. ChatGPT uses first-person language and apparent empathy, presenting as friendly and human-like.
• Compressed safety testing. Plaintiffs allege GPT-4o underwent a sharply shortened safety review before its May 13, 2024 launch, and that safety researchers resigned over the rushed process.
• Loosened self-harm guardrails. As alleged in the Raine amended complaint.
• Inadequate age verification. Minors allegedly access ChatGPT with no meaningful age check.
• No crisis-escalation infrastructure. Plaintiffs allege the system does not alert parents or emergency services and continues engaging users in acute distress.

Who Qualifies for a ChatGPT Lawsuit?

You may have a claim if a loved one died by suicide after extended ChatGPT use; attempted suicide and required hospitalization following such use; suffered severe psychiatric injury (psychosis, severe depression, delusional thinking, dissociation) tied to ChatGPT use; or was harmed after relying on ChatGPT’s medical or mental-health “advice.” Minor-victim cases carry additional allegations about age verification.

The most important evidence is the conversation history (screenshots or exported logs), along with medical and psychiatric records. The available legal theories include strict product liability (design defect and failure to warn), negligence, wrongful death and survivorship, loss of consortium, and violations of state consumer-protection statutes.

What Compensation Is Available?

Damages depend on your state’s law and the facts, and may include past and future medical and psychiatric expenses, lost income and earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, wrongful-death and survivor damages, and punitive damages where the conduct is found to be especially egregious. The Raine complaint points to OpenAI’s rapid valuation growth after GPT-4o’s launch to support its claim that the company prioritized growth over safety.

What Are These Cases Worth?

This litigation is new and contested, and OpenAI has not settled any wrongful-death case, so no public settlement values exist. The value of an individual claim depends on the facts — the severity of the harm, the strength of the evidence connecting ChatGPT to the injury, the applicable state law, and the family’s damages. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We will not put a price on a life, and we are skeptical of any firm that advertises a settlement figure in cases like these.

How the Cases Have Been Litigated

The legal framework is still developing, but the early rulings have favored plaintiffs. In May 2025, Judge Anne C. Conway (M.D. Fla.) rejected First Amendment and Section 230 defenses in the related Garcia v. Character Technologies case — a ruling widely cited in the ChatGPT cases. OpenAI’s strategy has been to emphasize ChatGPT’s safety features, its crisis-line referrals, and user terms-of-service violations. As of June 2026, no federal MDL has been formed for ChatGPT cases; they are proceeding individually, and consolidation may follow as the count grows.

Preserve Evidence Immediately

• Do not delete the ChatGPT account or wipe the device; local data can supplement server-side logs.
• Request a data export. OpenAI permits export of conversation history; do this early, as retention windows apply.
• Preserve the device used to access ChatGPT.
• Save medical, psychiatric, and emergency records, including any medical-examiner findings.
• Document the timeline of when use began, escalated, and when symptoms and treatment appeared.
• Do not communicate with OpenAI directly, and do not sign anything before speaking with a lawyer.

Why Fob James Law Firm

• We understand the technology. These cases require lawyers who understand how large language models work — training, the prompt-response architecture, the safety layer, and the engagement mechanisms. We have engaged closely with these systems for years.
• Direct attorney access. Fob James IV personally handles your case.
• Lower fees. A 33–40% contingency fee, not the 45% many national firms charge.
• Selective intake. Fewer cases, more attention.
• More than 40 years of trial experience in pharmaceutical, defective-product, toxic-exposure, and wrongful-death litigation, with co-counsel in all 50 states.
• Multistate license in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
• No fee unless we win.

Current ChatGPT Litigation Updates

July 5, 2026 — AI Chatbot Litigation Update: Florida Sues OpenAI as Cases Pass 20

The litigation against AI chatbot makers widened significantly in June. On June 1, 2026, the State of Florida sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in Florida state court, alleging the company failed to warn users that ChatGPT could be dangerous while marketing it as safe — including for children. More than 20 lawsuits are now pending against OpenAI over alleged ChatGPT-related harms, including wrongful-death and injury claims brought by families of victims of the February 2026 Tumbler Ridge school shooting in Canada and a victim of the Florida State University shooting, alongside the suicide and “AI psychosis” cases filed in late 2025. OpenAI has denied the allegations, pointing to its safety guardrails and crisis-resource referrals, and Altman publicly apologized to the Tumbler Ridge community in April.

Regulatory pressure is rising in parallel: Pennsylvania is seeking a preliminary injunction against Character.AI over chatbots that posed as licensed medical professionals (one bot gave investigators a fake Pennsylvania psychiatry license number), and the Federal Trade Commission’s inquiry into companion chatbots’ safety for minors continues with the backing of the American Psychological Association. Character.AI’s January 2026 settlement of five family lawsuits — which included Google and the company’s co-founders as settling defendants — resolved only those cases; new claims continue to be filed. (Allegations in pending lawsuits are not findings of liability; prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)

Frequently Asked Questions

My family member was an adult, not a minor. Does that affect the case?

Adult cases are being filed and proceeding — the Shamblin, Irwin, Madden, and Brooks cases all involve adult users. Adult cases can raise questions about the user’s own conduct, but they are not categorically weaker than minor cases.

OpenAI says ChatGPT referred my child to crisis resources. Doesn’t that defeat the case?

OpenAI has raised that defense, but it has not been accepted by a court. Plaintiffs argue that surfacing a hotline does not absolve the product if it then continued to engage harmfully; these cases focus on the full pattern of the conversations, not isolated safety triggers.

My family member’s harm involved following medical advice from ChatGPT. Is that different?

Yes. Those cases can involve additional theories, including unauthorized practice of medicine depending on the state. Pennsylvania’s May 2026 lawsuit against Character.AI for chatbot impersonation of medical professionals is a related example.

Can we sue OpenAI’s CEO?

The lead case names CEO Sam Altman as a defendant alongside OpenAI. Whether particular individuals remain in a given case depends on the facts and the court’s rulings.

Is there a ChatGPT class action or public claim form?

No. These are individually filed lawsuits. Be cautious of any website advertising a “ChatGPT settlement claim” and requesting personal information.

What does it cost?

Nothing upfront. We work on contingency, and you pay nothing unless there is a recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions About the ChatGPT Lawsuit

What is the ChatGPT lawsuit about?

Families allege that ChatGPT’s design, including its memory, its conversational persistence, and gaps in its safeguards, contributed to severe harm and, in the wrongful death cases, to the loss of their loved ones. The suits claim OpenAI knew of the risks to vulnerable users and failed to warn or protect them.

Has any court let a ChatGPT case go forward?

Yes. In April 2026, a federal judge in California refused to halt a wrongful death case against OpenAI, allowing it to proceed alongside parallel state court litigation. Florida also reportedly became the first state to bring an enforcement action against OpenAI in June 2026.

Should I preserve ChatGPT conversations before filing a claim?

Yes, immediately, and before doing anything else. Chat logs are often the central evidence in these cases, and account access, deletion settings, and retention policies are outside your control. Export and save every conversation, screenshot the account settings, and do not delete the account. A lawyer can also send a formal preservation demand to OpenAI.

Is there a ChatGPT settlement?

No settlement has been publicly announced in any ChatGPT injury or wrongful death case. These are early, individually litigated cases, and any figure you see promised online should be treated with suspicion.

How long do I have to file a ChatGPT claim?

Generally one to three years depending on your state, and wrongful death deadlines often run differently than injury deadlines, as do the rules for minors. Tennessee’s is generally just one year. The safest move is to have your specific dates checked now, for free.

Contact a ChatGPT Lawsuit Attorney

If a family member was harmed by ChatGPT, contact Fob James Law Firm for a free, confidential consultation. Evidence-retention windows are running and statutes of limitations vary by state, so do not wait.

Call 866-837-1010 or request a confidential case review.

Related Pages

• AI Chatbot Lawsuit (Overview)
• Character.AI Lawsuit
• AI Chatbot Lawsuit (Alabama)
• Social Media Addiction Lawsuit (Alabama)