SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - A woman who claims a high-profile Detroit-area lawyer grabbed her breast can pursue a claim of emotional distress after the Michigan Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case.
The decision means an appeals court ruling will stand in a lawsuit against Mike Morse, who is known for TV ads that feature his mother and tout his success in representing injured people.
A woman alleges that Morse grabbed her left breast in 2017 when they posed for a picture at a restaurant. He denies it.
The appeals court last year said the woman’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress can move forward, although the legal threshold is high.
“Plaintiff had just met Morse and they were in a public place with other people nearby. Thus, the conduct, if it occurred, would have been particularly brash and unexpected,” the court said.
The appeals court also had reversed other parts of a decision by an Oakland County judge.
Morse’s attorney, Deb Gordon, has called the lawsuit a “sham” cooked up by his rivals in the legal field.
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