DRCEA and RDPFFA communications and press releases; U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan notices; statements by Shirley V. Lightsey, President of the DRCEA, and Don Taylor, President of RDPFFA; photographs.
Ryan C. Plecha is a metropolitan Detroit-based attorney who has focused his practice on civil litigation and complex commercial litigation. During Detroit's bankruptcy proceedings, 2013-2015 and the development of the "Grand Bargain," Plecha represented two retiree associations.
Plecha graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Kalamazoo College and earned his Law Degree from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School magna cum laude. While working on his law degree, Plecha received several prestigious honors, including the Sol Siegal Award and the Shane Joseph Memorial Scholarship. Prior to joining Lippitt O'Keefe Gornbein in 2011, he served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Gerald E. Rosen, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 2008, Plecha established Plecha Legal, a general practice firm engaged in cases concerning civil litigation, family law, estate planning, and corporate formations. Between 2009 and 2011 Plecha worked for Hyman Lippitt, PC as a Contract Attorney and an Associate Attorney. During this time he also served as a research and writing clerk on the Michigan Law Revision Commission.
Plecha's notable successes include providing representation of a Michigan corporation in a multimillion dollar federal antitrust class action suit; representation of a big three automotive company in supplier disputes; representation of two hedge funds in a class action shareholder oppression case; representation of Ford Motor Company in various matters; and participation in prosecution of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action on behalf of employees (prison guards) of Michigan Department of Corrections. Plecha was counsel to two Detroit Retiree Associations (the Retired Detroit Police and Fire Fighters Association (RDPFFA), and the Detroit Retired City Employees Association (DRCEA)) in the historic City of Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The RDPFFA, whose 6,500 members at the time included more than 80 percent of police and fire pensioners, was a Lippitt O'Keefe Gornbein client, and the DRCEA specifically retained the firm for the bankruptcy. The police-fire association reached an agreement to support Detroit's plan of adjustment out of mediation in April 2014 -- one that avoided cuts to existing pension benefits, but reduced cost-of-living increases for pensioners going forward. The DCREA also reached an agreement with the City of Detroit to minimize reductions to their pension benefits. Other retiree representatives employees and the boards of Detroit's two employee pension funds later got on board with the city's plan as well.
Plecha is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and The Oakland County Bar Association American Inn of Court. In 2013 Plecha was appointed to the executive council of the State Bar of Michigan's Young Lawyers Section. He is admitted to practice law in the state of Michigan as well as before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
