DETROIT (AP) - An ex-attorney for the state of Michigan who was fired after expressing hostility toward a gay University of Michigan student government president has lost a defamation lawsuit against another lawyer.
Detroit federal Judge Arthur Tarnow on Tuesday said Deborah Gordon's comments about Andrew Shirvell were either true or opinions and showed no malice. He dismissed the case.
Gordon called Shirvell a "rebel without a clue," among other things.
Shirvell says the ruling "reeks of hypocrisy and a double-standard."
Gordon represented Chris Armstrong in a lawsuit against Shirvell, and jury last year ordered Shirvell to pay Armstrong $4.5 million.
Armstrong accused Shirvell of stalking as well as defaming him on an anti-gay blog and elsewhere. Shirvell was fired as an assistant attorney general in 2010.
