A Michigan State Police employee has sued the agency and its director, alleging she was coerced into accepting a demotion after a confrontation with a senior officer and that the agency failed to honor her employment contract.
In a complaint filed Dec. 8 in Wayne County Circuit Court, Heather Luebs says Col. James F. Grady II and Michigan State Police pressured her to accept a lower‑level analyst position or face a fabricated internal affairs investigation.
Luebs alleges the threat followed a June 9 confrontation with Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe after Luebs sent a text warning a colleague about Brimacombe’s presence in a meeting.
The lawsuit states that Grady had scheduled a virtual meeting to discuss a survey in which more than 98% of MSP Troopers Association members indicated they had “no confidence” in MSP leadership.
Luebs, who was a senior executive management assistant under Grady, claims she saw Brimacombe go into Grady’s office shortly before the meeting started, although she hadn’t been invited to attend.
In a text message to another MSP official, Luebs wrote, “FYA — Aimee is in his office with him. Not sure if he’ll acknowledge that.”
The complaint states she accidentally sent the text to Brimacombe, too.
“That also went to Brimacombe, who then became very angry and came out of the Colonel’s office, confronted my client, getting right in her face,” said Maura Battersby, an attorney with Flood Law who is representing Luebs in the suit.
Battersby said both Grady and Brimacombe were furious and met with Luebs afterward.
“There was some questioning of her and questioning her about what team she was on,” Battersby said. “Certainly, the language was more focused on loyalty than the topic at hand.”
The lawsuit claims Grady began the meeting by saying there is nothing wrong with having someone in a meeting without telling anyone, and that it is his “prerogative as director.”
The filing states Grady and Brimacombe repeatedly accused Luebs of sharing confidential information, which she interpreted as a thinly veiled accusation that she had shared information with State Representative Mike Mueller, who was leading the charge to remove Grady as Colonel.
It also claims Brimacombe said she never understood why Grady kept her on when he became Colonel and said she figured it was because they “knew people would blame the two of them” and would feel sorry for Luebs.
Later that day, Luebs sent an apology to Grady, the filing says.
On June 16, Luebs claims she met with Grady and Dr. Juli Liebler, the assistant deputy director of the Professional Development Bureau, who gave her the option to either move to an analyst role of Grady’s choosing “quietly and without making a fuss” or he would launch an internal affairs investigation against her.
“My client felt that she had no other choice,” Battersby said. “She felt that an internal investigation would result in her termination, not for legitimate reasons, but because that’s how they had been used.”
Luebs, who has worked for MSP since 2003, was appointed to her position in July 2024, under a limited‑term contract that ran through July 2026.
The filing claims Luebs isn’t being paid out through the end of her contract, which Battersby said is significantly unusual.
The complaint says Luebs never signed paperwork indicating she voluntarily accepted the reassignment, that Human Resources was never involved, and that her hourly pay rate was reduced by nearly $8 per hour, and that she became ineligible for performance bonuses.
She seeks more than $25,000 in damages, including lost pay, emotional damages, and harm to her professional reputation.
Shanon Banner, director of the MSP Communications & Outreach Division, said once served with this lawsuit, the agency will review it and work with the Attorney General’s Office to respond in court.
This is the second lawsuit Flood Law has filed against MSP this year.
In October, a former Chief DEI Officer sued the agency, citing a culture of discrimination and claiming she faced a retaliatory internal investigation after making a complaint of sexual harassment.
“I think they have a systemic problem and that’s not just my opinion from reviewing this,” Battersby said. “When 90 to 98% of your state troopers, all the way up through leadership, respond that they don’t have any confidence in current leadership, that is the most telling.”