Individual Action
Lyons v. OpenAI (Soelberg estate)
Emily Lyons, as administrator of the Estate of Stein-Erik Soelberg, v. OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI, Inc., Samuel Altman, et al.
Where it stands
The federal suit alleges ChatGPT reinforced a 56-year-old user's paranoid delusions over months before he killed his mother and then himself. A parallel state-court action was filed in December 2025 by the executor of the mother's estate, naming OpenAI and Microsoft. In April 2026, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg denied defendants' motion to dismiss or stay the federal case under the Colorado River abstention doctrine, finding substantial doubt that the state case would resolve the federal claims, so the federal action proceeds in parallel. No ruling yet on First Amendment or Section 230 defenses.
Key ruling
April 2026 (N.D. Cal., Seeborg, C.J.): motion to dismiss or stay under Colorado River denied; federal product-liability and wrongful-death claims proceed alongside the parallel state case.
What is not confirmed
The relationship between the federal Lyons action and the parallel state action brought by the mother's estate executor is complex; the state case number is not confirmed. Decedent and his mother were adults, and the case is factually distinct from the minor-user suits.The record
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- Case number
- 3:25-cv-11037
- Filed
- 2025-12-29
- Defendants
- OpenAI Foundation · OpenAI, Inc. and affiliated entities · Samuel Altman · Microsoft Corporation (named in the parallel state action)
- Plaintiffs
- Estate representatives arising from an August 2025 murder-suicide in Greenwich, Connecticut
- Technology at issue
- ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Relief sought
- Survival damages, economic losses, and punitive damages
- Counsel of record
- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP (Steve W. Berman)
Claims pleaded
Sources (4)
- Lawsuit Filed Against OpenAI Following Murder-Suicide in ConnecticutHagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP · 2025-12-29
- OpenAI can't duck federal claims over murder-suicide tied to ChatGPTCourthouse News Service · 2026-04
- OpenAI, Microsoft sued over ChatGPT's alleged role in fueling man's 'paranoid delusions' before murder-suicide in ConnecticutCBS News · 2025-12-11
- Emily Lyons v. OpenAi Foundation et al, 3:25-cv-11037CourtListener · 2025-12-29
This page describes a publicly filed case. This site is not counsel on this matter, nothing here is legal advice, and the allegations described are allegations unless a court has said otherwise.