Michael Melkersen has been practicing law for more than a decade specializing in personal injury, wrongful death and business litigation. While still in law school, Melkersen authored the brief that ultimately led to the decision in Maximum Home Health Care, Inc. v. Shalala, Secretary of HHS, 272 F.3d 318 (6thCir. 2001), a landmark decision that was included by United States Supreme Court Justice Breyer in his textbook on administrative law. Early in his career, Melkersen achieved notoriety when he obtained sanctions in a reported federal opinion against one of the largest commercial law firms in Montgomery County Maryland in a case known as Melkersen v. Ray Construction Company, 315 B.R. 45 (D. Md. 2004), which changed the landscape of permitted practices in Maryland commercial and bankruptcy litigation and which has been cited by numerous courts since that time. Melkersen himself has taken multiple cases to the Virginia Supreme Court, including the recent case of Property Damage Specialists, Inc. v. Aaron Rechichar, 790 S.E.2d 237 (Va. 2016) in which Melkersen persuaded the High Court to reverse the trial court on an important legal question involving punitive damages. Melkersen obtained this favorable result for his client despite significant federal law contrary to his client's position.
