The Docket Is the Weapon: How Saginaw County Courts Have Enabled Nine Months of Documented Harassment Against a Michigan Crime Victim and Her Children

A Lawsuit Filed in the Right County — for Ellison

Philip L. Ellison did not file this lawsuit in Kalamazoo County, where I live. He did not file it in the county where the alleged “defamatory” statements were published, where the alleged harm occurred, or where the witnesses are located. He filed it in Saginaw County, where his law firm is headquartered in Hemlock, where he has practiced for years, and where, as the record now shows, he knows which judges sign orders without at all reading the stalking and harassment happening to the other side.

Under MCL 600.1621, proper venue in a case like this is the county where the defendant resides — Kalamazoo County. It is the county where the cause of action arose. It is the county where the counterclaim damages accrued. Ellison chose Saginaw County for the same reason anyone chooses home court: because the structural advantages flow to the person who knows the room.

The structural advantages in this case have been documented and specific. The December 2025 preliminary injunction was obtained at a hearing where I traveled five hours round trip, appeared without counsel, and was given minutes to review the proposed order under judicial pressure. Ellison appeared from his office via Zoom. When Judge Borrello — the first Saginaw County judge assigned to the case — denied my motion to disqualify him, he then recused himself eleven days later on May 12, 2026. The case moved to Judge Julie A. Gafkay. On her first day, she signed Ellison’s ex parte show cause order based solely on his sworn affidavit, without notifying me and without reviewing the complete record of a nine-month proceeding. It’s absurd, because the complete record would have told her that her own affiant had submitted multiple false sworn statements contradicted by his own exhibits. Over and over and over.

The Affidavit and the Exhibit That Contradicts It

Ellison’s affidavit supporting his fourth show cause motion states at paragraph 8 that he was “informed and believes” Williams sent a letter to the Hemlock Public School Board president. That framing implies Ellison learned about the letter through third parties after the fact — that it came to his attention secondhand.

His own Exhibit A, filed with the same motion, tells a different story. The email chain in Exhibit A shows that Williams CC’d ellison.katherine@hemlockps.com on the original communication. That is the email address of Katherine Ellison — Philip Ellison’s wife, who serves as Vice President of the Hemlock Public School Board. Who should be required by law to file a Mandated Report about harassment and stalking of children. Ellison then forwarded the entire chain to himself. He had the letter in his inbox. His wife was CC’d directly. He was not “informed and believes.” He directly received it.

A false sworn statement in a court filing is a violation of MRPC 3.3, which prohibits false statements to a tribunal. It is a violation of MRPC 8.4(c), which prohibits conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. It is the basis for the AGC investigation already underway, and it is documented evidence of the same pattern that produced the original December 2025 injunction — the one whose underlying affidavit is itself already under active bar investigation.

The UPEPA Stay Saginaw County Completely Ignored

On May 6, 2026, I filed a UPEPA special motion in Case No. 25-2441-CZ. The Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, codified at MCL 691.1851 through 691.1867, provides that the filing of such a motion automatically stays all proceedings pending resolution of the motion. The stay is not discretionary. It is triggered by the filing. It has been in effect since May 6, 2026.

Ellison’s second show cause motion was filed the SAME day as the UPEPA motion — May 6, 2026 — the same day a process server was also dispatched to Williams’ home in Kalamazoo County. The third show cause was adjourned when Judge Borrello recused. The fourth was filed on May 28, 2026, twenty-two days into the stay period. Under MCL 691.1857, each of those motions is void by operation of statute.

Saginaw County has not acted on any of it and show implicit bias for Ellison. The person doing harm to women and children.

The Judges and the Pattern

Judge Borrello, the first Saginaw County judge assigned to this case, issued the December 2025 preliminary injunction, then denied my motion to disqualify him, only to recuse himself on May 12, 2026. The sequence — deny disqualification, then recuse — left the injunction in place and the case in the hands of a new judge.

That new judge is Julie A. Gafkay, also apparently not paying attention to what’s happening to a stalking victim.

Interestingly, Judge Gafkay and Philip L. Ellison both hold adjunct faculty appointments at Saginaw Valley State University. That relationship was NOT disclosed to me when the case was assigned to Judge Gafkay. It was NOT disclosed before Judge Gafkay signed Ellison’s ex parte show cause order. I learned of it through independent research after the order was already signed and my Emergency Restraining Order Request was once again ignored.

Michigan’s judicial disqualification rule, MCR 2.003, requires disqualification not only when actual bias is demonstrated but when the circumstances would cause a reasonable person to question the impartiality of the proceeding. A judge and an attorney who share a professional academic appointment at the same university, in a proceeding where that attorney is seeking to incarcerate the opposing party, meet that standard. The fact that this relationship was not disclosed before the judge’s first act in the case — signing Ellison’s ex parte order — makes it worse. So I filed an emergency disqualification motion on May 28, 2026.

My Children

Within the same twenty-day period in May 2026, two unidentified individuals arrived at my home in Kalamazoo County. Ring doorbell footage with audio exists. Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s reports were filed. New police reports were filed on May 28, 2026. My son is afraid when people come to the door because of this non-stop harassment.

A domain was registered in Williams’ daughter’s legal name. A GoDaddy subpoena has been filed seeking account holder records. I sent a letter to the Hemlock Public School Board — whose vice president is Ellison’s wife — notifying them of the domain, the AGC investigation, and related documented concerns. Ellison filed a fourth contempt motion. And STILL Judge Gafkay signed the show cause order. My children are not parties to this case. They are the collateral damage of it.

The Financial Architecture of Attrition

My counterclaim documents $485,269.80 in damages caused by this proceeding and the underlying campaign. That figure includes $58,500 in lost wages attributed to coordinated contact with her employer by Ellison’s clients’ network, and $126,900 from the loss of contracts and declined professional opportunities. One where Philip Ellison intentionally went to my blog, read an article, and then smeared me in an email and cost me an unpaid training engagement. I am solo parenting on one income. I applied for crime victim compensation through the Michigan Crime Victim Services Commission on May 7, 2026.

Saginaw County Court has been largely useless. They have refused to weigh the cost of requiring me to litigate in Saginaw County against the documented financial devastation this proceeding has already caused. Ellison files from his office minutes from the courthouse and emails the court with professional intimacy. I travel five hours round trip with no liquid assets on a zero-balance budget. That asymmetry is not incidental to the litigation strategy. It is the litigation strategy. And Saginaw County is allowing it.

What the Record Shows

The record in Case No. 25-2441-CZ is available. The motions are filed documents. The AGC investigation number is public. The 504 plan was issued by a Michigan school district. The counterclaim damages are itemized. The UPEPA stay is statutory. The adjunct faculty connection between Judge Gafkay and Philip L. Ellison is verifiable. The multiple false sworn statements are in Ellison’s own exhibits. The December 2025 injunction was obtained via an affidavit already under bar investigation. Four show cause motions in six months. Two Saginaw County judges. One recusal. One undisclosed conflict. One automatic stay. Zero sanctions.

And here I sit, requesting emergency intervention from the AGC. My daughter is trying to study for finals while Ellison and his clients send creeps to our door. My son is afraid when people show up unannounced. And Saginaw County protects their own.