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.