By a Staff Writer

The attorney representing Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick Murphy in a suit by the bankruptcy trustee for Dr. George Taus, a close friend of the judge, yesterday was granted his motion to be relieved as counsel in the matter.

A clerk for Bankruptcy Judge Thomas B. Donovan said the judge granted attorney Thomas Dovidio's motion at yesterday's hearing, but was waiting for Dovidio to prepare an order for him to sign.

Dovidio, a Diamond Bar sole practitioner, was not available for comment yesterday. The trustee sued Murphy and others for the return of nearly $1.9 million that the trustee claims was wrongfully taken from Taus's estate.

Murphy, who has been away from the West Covina courthouse on sick leave for nearly two years, has been charged by the Commission on Judicial Performance based on his absences.

Last month, Dovidio was relieved in a federal suit accusing Murphy of fraudulent misappropriation of funds. Senior U.S. District Judge Wm. Matthew Byrne Jr. said at the time he was satisfied that Murphy and Dovidio had an irreconcilable conflict "of how the case should proceed."

The suits involve transfers which appear to have been initiated by Taus and have been consolidated for discovery purposes. No trial has been set in the trustee's suit.

Murphy, who faces an April 11 trial in Byrne's courtroom, apparently remains under investigation by the District Attorney's Office and the federal Justice Department regarding a complex series of financial transfers in which the judge may have been involved in 1996 and 1997, and which are the subject of the lawsuit.

A status conference is set for this afternoon in Judge Byrne's courtroom to determine whether Murphy has new counsel and got his files back from Dovidio.

Dovidio is also seeking to stop representing the judge in his suit accusing another attorney, Paul Ottosi, with malpractice and invasion of privacy.

Murphy's suit against his former friend Ottosi was transferred to Orange County. Dovidio's motion to be relieved as counsel in that suit was reportedly to be heard by Orange Superior Court Judge Robert Monarch yesterday. Monarch's clerk, however, said the date was a mistake and that the judge was set to consider the matter tomorrow afternoon.