A lawyer who sued another attorney for defamation over allegations made in court and repeated to the Daily Report in a bitter garnishment battle, has dismissed the federal action only to file a new one in a Florida state court.

Sarasota attorney Robert Frey, who holds emeritus status with the State Bar of Georgia, initially sued A. Binford Minter and a client in U.S. District Court in February over statements Minter made about Frey's intervention in a garnishment action.

Minter's client, Harold Blach, holds a $160,000 judgment against former Aflac executive Sal Diaz-Verson. Minter filed to garnish Diaz-Verson's retirement payments in 2015, first in Muscogee County Superior Court and then in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.