A long-simmering public-records fight in Holly has exploded into federal court, as resident and independent journalist Anna Matson sues the Village of Holly and several council members, alleging they punished her for filing a flurry of records requests. In a complaint filed last Monday, Matson says village leaders twisted the records process, broke Michigan’s open-meetings rules and stomped on her First Amendment rights.
The federal suit is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan as Matson v. Holly, Village of et al and is categorized as a civil-rights action under 28 U.S.C. § 1343, according to Justia Dockets & Filings. On paper, it is a records-access dispute, but the filing also casts the clash as a broader constitutional fight over alleged retaliation by local officials.
In filings and media statements described by The Oakland Press, Matson says she submitted three Freedom of Information Act requests in 2025, including ones in May and June for communications involving Council President April Brandon and Clerk Lisa Bone, as well as emails tied to former village manager Tim Price and attorney Michael Glidner. The outlet reports village records showed 68 FOIA requests to the village in 2025. It also reports the village pulled back a settlement offer on Jan. 15 after Matson filed another request, a move she characterizes as retaliation.
FOIA Rules And Municipal Burden
Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act gives the public a legal way to inspect and copy most government records, but it also lets public bodies charge fees and require deposits to cover labor costs. Local governments have to adopt written procedures and post their fee guidelines, which can make big or repeated requests a flashpoint over cost and staff time. State guidance also notes that a requester has 45 days to pay a good-faith deposit or the request can be treated as abandoned. Those rules are laid out by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
What The Suit Alleges And Where It Began
Matson’s federal complaint names the Village of Holly, along with council members April Brandon, Amber Kier, Shannon Cole, Joe Koskela, Thomas Ryan, Daniel Wendel and Buster Winebrenner. According to The Oakland Press, the suit includes two counts alleging violations of Michigan’s Open Meetings Act.
The federal case did not appear out of nowhere. Matson previously filed a related case in Oakland County Circuit Court in October 2025, and she told the paper a court set a Jan. 13 deadline connected to settlement talks. According to her account in that reporting, the village later rescinded its settlement offer, a turning point that helped push the dispute into federal court.
Legal Implications
By pulling FOIA and Open Meetings claims into federal court, Matson is invoking civil-rights law and seeking federal remedies while also pressing her state-level arguments. The case is listed as a civil-rights action under 28 U.S.C. § 1343, and the public can track new filings, motions, and scheduling orders through the docket on Justia Dockets & Filings.
As the case moves ahead, court rulings on motions and any hearings will help determine whether Matson’s barrage of records requests is treated as protected speech under the First Amendment or as a legitimate strain on village resources. Those developments will unfold in real time on the federal docket as both sides argue their version of how a small-town records fight became a civil-rights lawsuit.
