Richard Welke

Experience

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  Michael R. Dunn & Associates, P.C.

  Jun 1989 - Jun 2002

  Intern and Staff Attorney

  In 1995, as a Personal Injury attorney, I successfully argued to the Sixth Circuit that “the Bystander Recovery Rule does not preclude a claim for fearing for one's personal safety” and that a District Court’s ruling to the contrary, in Maldonado v. National Acme, should be reversed. Significantly, the fact that Maldonado witnessed a death by decapitation and was “showered with [metal, flesh] bone fragments, tissue, brain matter, and blood” precluded the Defendant’s argument that Maldonado could not recover under then current Michigan law because his fear was caused by merely witnessing an injury to a non-relative third person. Summary was reversed, remanded in a published opinion, 73 F.3d 642 (6th Cir 1996), and subsequently settled. Show less

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  Trott Law, P.C.

  Oct 2002 - Mar 2019

  Senior Supervising Litigation Attorney

  Most recently, in Scott v. Bank of America (2:16-cv-13734), I successfully argued to a Detroit Federal District Court that the Sixth Circuit should join other circuits that interpreted a statutory FDCPA provision consistent with the clear and unambiguous language of the statute stating that a “debt collector” shall cease collection activity upon receipt of notice that the debt was disputed. Foreclosure publications, by a third party newspaper that is not a debt collector, ordered prior to receipt of the notice of a debt dispute by the law firm but published after the law firm received notice of a debt dispute is not collection activity. Summary Judgment was granted to the law firm, but reversed and remanded by the Sixth Circuit. While the case is still pending on remand, Plaintiff’s FDCPA claim was severely prejudiced by the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Obduskey. Dismissal of the case is anticipated. Show less