A federal judge in Columbus tossed out an attorney's claim that another lawyer libeled him in comments made to the Daily Report regarding a hotly disputed garnishment action several years ago. 

Ruling on competing motions for summary judgment, Judge Clay Land of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia dismissed both the defamation claim and a later-added claim for assault leveled by Sarasota, Florida-based attorney Robert Frey.

But Land's order kept alive a counterclaim for defamation filed by Frey's opponent, Fox Rothschild associate A. Binford Minter; that claim is slated for trial next March.

Frey, who is licensed to practice in Georgia, is an Emory Law graduate who joined the Georgia bar in 1971. Both he and Minter declined to comment on the ruling.    

The contentious litigation stems from a garnishment action Minter filed in 2015 seeking a nearly $160,000 judgment his client, Harold Blach Jr., had been awarded against former AFLAC insurance company executive Sal Diaz-Verson.

Minter sought to garnish Diaz-Verson's retirement benefits from AFLAC, but Frey—who had previously represented Diaz-Verson in other legal matters—intervened, saying he had a judgment worth nearly $300,00 for outstanding legal fees and thus had the superior claim to any garnished funds.

In 2016, in court filings and in comments to the Daily Report, Minter alleged Frey was improperly using his outstanding judgment to bar Blach from collecting.

At the time, Minter termed Frey's intervention a "fraudulent arrangement; impermissible, unethical, and void." 

Minter told the Daily Report that, if the tactic were allowed, "any debtor could evade future creditors" by having judgment assigned to his own attorney, who could then keep doing legal work to "ensure the old judgment debt never gets paid but then deny other would-be garnishors based on his 'owing' a prior judgment."

As that case progressed Land ultimately rejected that argument—twice, as his order noted—and ruled that Frey did have the superior claim and allowed him to collect from Diaz-Verson's garnished funds first. After years of litigation and multiple filings for disbursement, Blach finally made it to the front of the line and has collected nearly all of the judgment. 

But Minter's pleadings and comments drew a defamation action from Frey, who first sued him and Blach in Florida; on a defense's motion the case was transferred to Georgia's Middle District. 

Last year Land ruled that Frey's claims did not amount to defamation per se, which requires that the offending statements "are recognized as injurious on their face—without the aid of extrinsic proof."

A party claiming defamation per se may recover general damages, Land wrote, but a claim for simple defamation must be supported by evidence of special damages or money lost because of the alleged injury.

"[B]ecause he does not have a claim for libel or slander per se, Frey is not entitled to recover general damages," Land wrote. "He must prove special damages, such as lost income or profits." 

Land had ordered Frey to provide evidence of his special damages, but the lawyer responded that he only sought "compensatory damages" for "loss to reputation, pain and suffering and emotional distress."

"Given that Frey did not produce any evidence of special damages caused by Minter's allegedly defamatory statements—and apparently does not even intend to seek such damages—defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Frey's defamation claims," Land wrote.

Frey also had attempted to add a claim for assault "based on an alleged altercation" with Minter after the libel suit was filed in 2017.  

Because Frey did not seek the court's permission to add that claim, Land also dismissed it without prejudice.

Last year, Minter filed a counterclaim for defamation based on a number of highly critical comments Frey made in communications to a Columbus judge and another lawyer who represented Diaz-Verson.

"Frey did not seek summary judgment on Minter's counterclaim for defamation, so that claim remains pending for trial," Land wrote.