A former Michigan county court clerk filed a federal whistleblower suit against a state judge Monday, saying she was fired after disclosing a text conversation between the judge and a juror in a criminal trial.
Former Oscoda County court clerk Heather Blundell says Judge Casandra Morse-Bills was presiding in April 2025 over the criminal trial of People v. Robert A. Declercq in a county circuit court. During the trial, two jurors were dismissed. On the day of the dismissal, Blundell says she observed Judge Morse-Bills texting with one of the dismissed jurors.
Judge Morse-Bills is a Republican candidate for
Michigan Supreme Court.
In her whistleblower suit, Blundell told the Michigan federal court that she and the judge were exiting Judge Morse-Bills' chambers when the judge stopped to read a text she had just received and started laughing. Blundell claims the judge told her one of the dismissed jurors was texting her regarding his feelings about being let go from the jury.
Blundell says the judge appeared amused that the juror was texting her prior to the trial's conclusion, and Blundell "found it very odd" that the judge was "engaged in ex-parte."
Blundell says she expressed her concerns to some of her co-workers at the court. Within a few days, she says she found the video feed of courtroom proceedings, which always had been in place at her work station, had been disconnected. The clerk claims Judge Morse-Bills, Chief Judge Richard Vollbach Jr., or Oscoda court administrator Tom Pratt, ordered her video feed be cut. Vollbach and Pratt are also named in the suit.
Blundell says she pondered Judge Morse-Bills' text conversation with the juror for several months before reporting the action to counsel for Declercq in December. Blundell says she felt "compelled to come forward" because she suspected Judge Morse-Bills and the juror had "some sort of personal relationship with each other."
Blundell gave a sworn declaration and affidavit regarding what she observed, and Declercq's attorney filed an emergency motion requesting Judge Morse-Bills be recused from hearing post-trial motions in his case. After testifying in front of Judge Vollbach during a hearing regarding the emergency motion, Blundell returned to work Feb. 23, 2026, and discovered she was being put on administrative leave, she says.
On March 4, she received a final notice of termination, effective immediately, she says.
The termination notice, Blundell says, stated she was being fired because she only notified Declercq's attorney about the judge's text exchange with the juror and did not contact the prosecutor, court administrator or Judge Morse-Bills regarding her concerns.
Blundell claims the defendants violated the First Amendment and Michigan's Whistleblower Protection Act. That law prohibits an employer from firing someone because they reported a violation or wrongdoing.
She seeks compensation for lost wages and benefits as well as for mental and emotional distress.
Representatives for the parties could not immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
Blundell is represented by Paul W. Broschay.
Counsel information for the defendants was not available Monday afternoon.
The case is Heather Blundell v. Casandra Morse-Bills, Richard E. Vollbach Jr. and Tom Pratt, case number
2:26-cv-11372, in the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
--Editing by Janice Carter Brown.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.