12/20/12 - The lawsuit filed by a local judge against a Detroit attorney has been dismissed. Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Hatty filed suit earlier this month against Detroit-based attorney Richard Goodman in Macomb County Circuit Court. Hatty sued in an effort to recoup a portion of Goodmanâs $1.2 million legal fee from a recent settlement reached in a case he originally handled. Hatty claimed he was owed $400,000 for his years of work on the case involving then 3-year-old Catherine Logan-Brown. The girl fell off a bunk bed at an Art Van Furniture store in Clinton Township and suffered a closed head injury. Hatty took the case in 1995 but relinquished it when he was appointed judge in 2009. It then passed through the hands of various lawyers before Goodman took it on, suing the company in 2010. The $3.6 (m) million settlement was awarded in September. Hattyâs attorney Theodore Metry confirmed for WHMI that the judge has voluntarily dismissed his suit and is seeking resolution through alternative means. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that it could be re-filed again in the future. He also confirmed that the decision to do so came after a Macomb County judge ruled that a distribution of the settlement could proceed. (JM/JK)
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