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 he filed his first motion at 12:11 AM and had a show cause order signed the same day by a judge who had not yet read the record of the case she was inheriting.

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 because the structural advantages flow to the person who knows the room.

Those structural advantages 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 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.

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.

His own Exhibit A tells a different story. The email chain 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. Ellison forwarded the entire chain to himself before filing the motion at 12:11 AM. He had the letter in his inbox. His wife was CC’d directly. He was not “informed and believes.” He had direct receipt.

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 documented basis for additional AGC investigation and it is the same pattern that produced the original December 2025 injunction, whose underlying affidavit is itself under active bar investigation.

The UPEPA Stay Saginaw County Has Not Enforced

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.

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.

The UPEPA special motion has been pending for 23 days. The Saginaw County Circuit Court has not ruled on it. It has not addressed the stay in any of the three show cause motions filed during its pendency. It has scheduled a contempt hearing for June 8, 2026 in a case where all proceedings after May 6 are stayed by statute.

The Judicial Relationship That Was Not Disclosed

Judge Borrello, the first Saginaw County judge assigned to this case, issued the December 2025 preliminary injunction, denied my disqualification motion, and then recused himself on May 12, 2026. The case moved to Judge Julie A. Gafkay.

Judge Gafkay and Philip L. Ellison both hold adjunct faculty appointments at Saginaw Valley State University. That relationship is documented in their respective professional biographies on their own websites. It 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 on her first day on the case. I discovered it through independent research after the order was already signed and filed a disqualification motion under MCR 2.003 on May 28, 2026.

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, presents exactly that question. The fact that this relationship was not disclosed before the judge’s first act in the case was signing Ellison’s ex parte order compounds the concern.

My Children

Two unidentified individuals arrived at my home in Kalamazoo County within a twenty-day period in May 2026. The first on May 6. The second on May 26, with no paperwork and no identification for a lawsuit that had already been dismissed and exists in no active court. He refused to identify himself. He refused to leave when I ordered him to go. My son was inside watching it happen. Ring doorbell footage with audio exists. Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s reports were filed. New police reports were filed on May 28, 2026.

A domain was registered in my daughter’s legal name as an instrument of harassment. A GoDaddy subpoena seeking account holder records has been filed in this case. Gull Lake Community Schools issued a formal 504 plan accommodation for my daughter on May 23, 2026 — a federal institutional finding that she has a qualifying educational impairment caused by documented trauma. My son is afraid when people come to the door. Two people have come to that door in twenty days.

My children are not parties to this case. They are the documented collateral consequence of it.

The Financial Architecture of Attrition

My counterclaim documents $485,869.80 in damages caused by this proceeding and the underlying campaign. That figure includes $58,500 in lost wages from a documented employment termination and $126,900 from the loss of contracts and declined professional opportunities, one of which was an unpaid speaking engagement at a Michigan Reentry Event that Ellison contacted the organizer about after his verified office IP address accessed the article announcing my selection. I applied for crime victim compensation through the Michigan Crime Victim Services Commission on May 7, 2026.

This Court has not addressed the documented financial hardship in any meaningful way. Ellison files from his office minutes from the Saginaw County Courthouse. I travel five hours round trip with documented zero liquid assets. That asymmetry is not incidental to the litigation strategy. It is a documented component of it. And it is part of what the Emergency Motion for Change of Venue to Kalamazoo County, filed May 28, 2026, asks the court to correct.

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 documented in their own professional biographies. The false sworn statements are contradicted by 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 professional relationship. One automatic stay. Zero sanctions against Ellison.

The appointed counsel order was signed by Judge Gafkay on May 29, 2026. The reconsideration motion is pending. The UPEPA stay remains in effect. The record is there for every institution that chooses to read it.