Judge tosses Rick Wershe lawsuits over teen informant role

A federal judge has dismissed a pair of lawsuits filed by Richard Wershe Jr. over his role as an informant for law enforcement in Detroit in the 1980s.

U.S. District Court Judge Judge F. Kay Behm tossed a $100 million suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District on Monday, issuing a ruling that sided with multiple federal and local government defendants who had sought to dismiss the case based on the statute of limitations.

“The court has considered all of the arguments presented in the written motions, supplemental briefs, and oral argument, and finds that plaintiff’s claims were untimely and barred by the relevant statutes of limitations,” Behm said in the written ruling. “…Defendants’ motions to dismiss are granted.”

In the lawsuits, Wershe, 54, known as "White Boy Rick," accused officers from the FBI and Detroit Police Department of indoctrinating him into a "criminal society" as a child. The accusations against law enforcement officials stem from his time as an informant, which reportedly began when Wershe was 15 years old after being recruited by federal agents. The teen was arrested in 1987 on drug possession charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Wershe was released from a Michigan prison in 2017 but sent to Florida to serve a sentence in connection with a car theft ring until 2020. He filed his first lawsuit in July 2021 and the second in October 2022. In the 2021 lawsuit, Wershe sought damages from government plaintiffs for constitutional violations. The later lawsuit involved multiple claims against the U.S. government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

"There is no other case like plaintiff's in United States history where a 14-year-old is used by federal and state law enforcement," Wershe's attorney wrote in the 2021 claim, "... Never has a child-confidential informant been so abused by law enforcement as these agents and officers abused plaintiff."

Defendants named in the lawsuits include the city of Detroit, a former Detroit police officer, two former FBI agents and a former assistant attorney in the Justice Department.

The defendants moved to dismiss the claims, saying Wershe’s case was filed after the statute of limitations, which they argued had expired decades earlier. A hearing on the motions took place in Behm's Flint courtroom in July, with the debate focused narrowly on the statute of limitations question.

The government defendants argued that Wershe's case did not meet the standards required to circumvent the statute of limitations, including timeliness or fear of retaliation.

“The plaintiff (did not) have a reasonable fear of retaliation that lasted for three decades,” Assistant U.S. attorney Jennifer Newby told the court during the summer hearing.

Attorney Gregory Paddison, who represents the city of Detroit in the case, said the premise that the Detroit police officers who enlisted Wershe as an informant in the 1980s still would have been a threat decades later seemed to be “a bit of a stretch.”

According to the Wershe's lawyers, the plaintiff waited to file the lawsuit because he was fearful of retaliation while he was still behind bars and also worried that a lawsuit could hinder his chances of getting released. 

According to the complaints, Wershe sustained a number of injuries during his time as an informant in the 1980s. Those claims would have reached the statute of limitations in 2006, according to Behm's ruling.

Wershe's life has been the focus of books, a film and a movie starring Matthew McConaughey. He was arrested in Miami in May and charged with battery and robbery following a fight with a woman that allegedly started when he called out someone else's name during sex, according to a Miami Police report.

He also has his own premium line of marijuana, The 8th.