Miller v. MDHHS
CASE SUMMARY
Miller v. MDHHS was a Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit initiated by freelance journalist Erin Marie Miller against the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in April 2023. The suit sought, and successfully obtained, unredacted public records related to MDHHS’s still undisclosed contracts and work with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company for nearly half of 2020.
The motives for obtaining the requested records included preserving government history, examining how and why important policy decisions were made during a historic public health emergency in Michigan, understanding who was behind those decisions, scrutinizing the real-world impact the resulting policies had on people in the state, and identifying ways to improve public policy and policymaking processes in preparation for future pandemics. In the wake of the State of Michigan’s settlement with the global consulting firm over its alleged role in the opioid epidemic in early 2021, understanding how government officials collaborated with the company throughout 2020 is also in the public interest.
Because legal representation for the FOIA lawsuit was initially denied by multiple “pro-transparency” lawyers in Michigan, as well as attorneys at the nonprofit free market think tank that originally paid for and obtained the same redacted records from MDHHS nearly a year earlier through a separate FOIA request, Miller v. MDHHS was initiated pro se in the spring of 2023, just before the filing deadline. The lawsuit was later taken over by attorney Philip L. Ellison of Outside Legal Counsel, PLC.
In August 2023, without explanation, the government suddenly removed the contested redactions from what is estimated to be over 1,000 pages of documents, and produced the requested unredacted records mid-lawsuit. As a result, the case was deemed moot by Judge Elizabeth L. Gleicher, whose January 5, 2024, opinion also stated that “the Court [did] not find that defendant acted arbitrarily and capriciously in respect to its original redactions.” The opinion did not include a legal analysis of the contested redactions to support the judge’s position.
Judge Gleicher abruptly resigned after issuing the opinion, and Judge Christopher P. Yates was assigned the case in January 2024. Because a standard appeal was not possible without a new ruling from the new judge, due to a missed deadline, Judge Yates agreed in January 2025 — after nearly a year of silence in the case — to hear oral arguments for reconsideration of the original judge’s decision.
In addition to promoting government transparency in Michigan by upholding the FOIA, reconsideration of the original judge’s opinion in Miller v. MDHHS had the potential to make the work of local journalists more efficient during public emergencies, to protect the state’s citizens from future rights violations, and to deter unelected individuals at powerful corporations from influencing policy due to the risk of public disclosure in the future.
Despite the government’s failure to explain the initial redactions or its abrupt removal of those redactions from over 1,000 pages of requested documents mid-lawsuit, however, Judge Yates issued a new decision on March 12, 2025 — nearly two years after the case was initiated — that largely echoed the original judge’s position and did not find the State in violation of the FOIA.
BACKGROUND
A review of Michigan’s transparency issues and the events that inspired Miller v. MDHHS.
MAY 2021
The FOIA in Michigan is Broken
Some open records for the public, and a sordid tale about trying to access data and public policy information during a historic pandemic.
AUGUST 2021
CASE HISTORY
An archive of updates about Miller v. MDHHS as the FOIA lawsuit moved through the Michigan Court of Claims.
APRIL 2023
Why I'm Suing the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for Public Records About the Pandemic
Transparency about the information, individuals and contractors behind the State of Michigan's COVID-19 response is critical to the public interest — and our collective future.
MAY 2023
JULY 2023
NOVEMBER 2023
A Special Invitation?
The governor's team has invited me to a special meet-and-greet where they will answer all of my questions. (To date, details about this event are still the only emails I've ever received from this mailing list.)
FEBRUARY 2024
MARCH 2024
Unredacted: The MDHHS Documents
Public records provided by the health department reveal confusion, data reporting mishaps among personnel and contractors in 2020.
JANUARY 2025
MARCH 2025
THE DOCUMENTS
Original documents relevant to Miller v. MDHHS can be found in the following places online:
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that was the basis of Miller v. MDHHS, as well as the original redacted records and the unredacted records that resulted from the lawsuit, can be viewed on MuckRock: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/michigan-117/mckinsey-company-covid-19-models-reports-and-emails-2020-132888/
The Court Register of Actions for Miller v. MDHHS can be viewed here: Michigan Court of Claims case number 23-000027-MZ.
RECOMMENDED READING
“How the pandemic shined a harsh light on deficiencies in Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act” — Detroit Metro Times (Sept. 8, 2021)