The Perkins Law Group has filed suit against Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, accusing him of blocking a contract with the Detroit firm even after the county's Board of Commissioners approved it unanimously. The lawsuit is the latest flashpoint in a long-running fight over how much power Hackel holds to override decisions made by the board.
News of the suit was covered by FOX 2 Detroit, which published a video about the lawsuit. Hackel has served as Macomb County's executive since the position was created under the county's Home Rule Charter in 2011, following ten years as Macomb County Sheriff from 2001 to 2010, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber. He is the county's first and only executive under that charter system.
A Familiar Pattern of Blocked Hires and Contracts
This is not the first time Hackel has unilaterally blocked action that commissioners had already approved. In 2022, he blocked funding and job postings for the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office despite unanimous board approval, a move the Michigan Supreme Court ultimately declined to revisit after a lower court ruled against him, per reporting on the dispute. That earlier fight was led by then-Prosecutor Pete Lucido, who sued Hackel over the disputed hires and budget line items.
Todd Russell Perkins, managing partner of the Perkins Law Group, represented Lucido in that successful case. Perkins publicly criticized Hackel at the time for spending taxpayer money on outside legal counsel to fight spending ordinances the board had already passed unanimously, according to the same account. Perkins is a prominent figure in southeast Michigan legal and political circles; he formed a candidate committee to run for Mayor of Detroit in January 2025, as BridgeDetroit reported, and has represented high-profile municipal officials across the region. His firm's federal court work includes an August 2026 case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, where Perkins served as lead defense counsel for a Michigan district court judge.
Court Precedent Limits Executive Power
The new lawsuit arrives just months after a significant legal setback for Hackel on the broader separation-of-powers question. In June 2025, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Hackel v. Macomb County Board of Commissioners that validly enacted county ordinances carry the force of law under the Macomb County Home Rule Charter, rejecting Hackel's argument that a board-passed financial transparency rule unlawfully infringed on executive authority, according to CaseMine. That ruling established key precedent now shaping how commissioners and department heads argue against Hackel's administrative reach.
Disputes over Hackel's control of hiring, contracts, and office operations date back even further. In 2017, then-Clerk Karen Spranger sued Hackel and other county leaders in a dispute involving IT access, unauthorized personnel appointments, and office security protocols, per ClickOnDetroit. Macomb County operates on an annual budget exceeding $1 billion and is one of Michigan's three largest counties, a scale that has repeatedly put pressure on the boundaries between the executive's office and the board.
A New Legal Challenge for Hackel
The lawsuit adds another chapter to a pattern of legal challenges that has followed Hackel through much of his tenure as executive.
