Rosa Parks' Lawyer Ordered To Produce Artifacts In Bankruptcy

DETROIT, MI – The lawyer who once represented Rosa Parks avoided jail on Tuesday and was granted three weeks to come up with the whereabouts of valuable assets of the late civil rights icon. Bankruptcy court advocates had asked Judge Marci McIvor to put lawyer Gregory Reed in jail unless he produces the goods.

Reed’s case has been in bankruptcy court since August 2014, and McIvor told the court that it’s time his creditors start getting paid. The case has gotten quite expensive, with lawyer fees at $400,000, while creditors thus far has received a mere $75,000, according to The Detroit News.

A hearing in McIvor’s courtroom on Tuesday with Reed and bankruptcy lawyers representing his creditors was quite tense, according to the Detroit News.

The creditors’ lawyers say in court documents that Reed is holding out on producing valuable artifacts that once belonged to Parks, who was represented by Reed from 1994, after she was mugged, until her death in 2005. There are some 137 artifacts that bankruptcy trustee Kenneth Nathan wants handed over.

Among them the items:

• Signed photographs and letters
• Poster from the MLK Jr. Walk To Freedom in Detroit
• Sheet of 20 Rosa Park postage stamps
• Tribal masks and artwork
• A framed gold record of “Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes
• Framed records from Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Patti LaBelle
• Iron slave shackles
• A ticket and program to the funeral of Dr. Betty Shabazz, and
• A gold key to the city of Detroit.

Nathan had asked that Reed be held in contempt of court for not producing the items as ordered by the court in October. Reed was ordered to handover the assets to help satisfy the demands of his creditors.

In his August 2014 bankruptcy filing, Reed listed $272,000 in assets and $872,000 in liabilities.

File photo by Associated Press