Git error fatal: unable to stat '*': No such file or directory

Try git checkout my_branch -f

As given here: http://www.nullreference.se/2010/08/20/git-merge-error-permission-denied/

To solve the problem, I removed the file from git, then re-added it by doing the following:

git rm "myPathToAFile"

git add .

git commit -am 'my commit'

Hope this helps someone else!