Fieger can remain as motorcyclist’s counsel
2/18/2011Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger may continue to represent a local motorcyclist shot during a traffic stop by an Ottawa Hills police officer, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Judge David Katz of U.S. District Court in Toledo denied a request by the attorneys of former Officer Thomas White to disqualify Mr. Fieger and denied Mr. Fieger’s request for sanctions against the attorneys for their request.
Mr. Fieger represents Michael McCloskey in a civil lawsuit against White, who was convicted for the shooting, and the village. White’s attorneys cited “repeated history of misconduct” in their motion to disqualify Mr. Fieger.
In his brief opinion, Judge Katz noted though Mr. Fieger “has been disciplined before many courts,” he is “in good standing” in Michigan and in the Northern District of Ohio.
Mr. McCloskey was paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot once in the back during a May 23, 2009, traffic stop in Ottawa Hills. In May, 2010, White was convicted by a Lucas County Common Pleas jury of felonious assault with a gun specification and was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison. He is free on bond pending appeal of the verdict and sentence.