Controversial Saginaw doctor who owes bank $141K skips court to file bankruptcy in South Carolina

SAGINAW, MI — Beset by lawsuits and judgments on all sides, a local doctor was due in Saginaw County Business Court to explain why he hasn’t paid any of the nearly $150,000 he owes a federal savings bank. He didn’t show up, though, as he was in South Carolina, filing bankruptcy on behalf of one of his many corporations.

It’s the latest in a series of legal and financial troubles facing dermatopathologist Dr. David L. Stockman and his various entities.

Stockman was to appear before Saginaw County Business Court Judge M. Randall Jurrens on Friday, March 28, for a debtor discovery examination, during which he would be questioned under oath about his assets. The judge issued a bench warrant for the doctor when he failed to appear, as he first did in March 2024 and again the following January.

Stockman was in federal court in South Carolina that morning, filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy on behalf of Specialized Pathology Partners. Previous court records gave SPP’s address as 4798 Wenmar Drive in Saginaw Township, though the bankruptcy filing gives its address as a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Charleston, South Carolina.

For Stockman to have filed bankruptcy in South Carolina, he must have resided there for at least 91 of the previous 180 days.

Interestingly, records with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs show SPP was dissolved in May 2024. Those records show Stockman was the entity’s president, director, treasurer, and secretary.

Friday’s hearing stemmed from Jurrens in August 2023 issuing a default judgment against Stockman and SPP in favor of federal savings bank TIAA. TIAA in 2017 and 2019 agreed to lease Stockman and SPP ultrasound and radiology machines.

Stockman/SPP did not make payments on or return the leased equipment.

Jurrens ordered SPP to pay $122,292.42 and Stockman to pay $12,610.86. He further ordered the defendants to pay $6,792.82 to TIAA in costs and attorney fees.

Stockman has made no payments to TIAA or returned the leased equipment, confirmed an attorney representing the bank.

Jurrens in August 2024 issued a second default judgment against Stockman and his entity Great Lakes Bay Staffing Inc., ordering them to pay $131,626.18 to Wildfire Credit Union. Jurrens issued a third default judgment against Stockman on behalf of forensic pathologist Dr. Donald Higgs for about $55,000.

Higgs, a forensic pathologist, moved his family from New York to Michigan to work for Stockman at Michigan Institute of Forensic Science & Medicine in 2023. The checks Higgs received as payment bounced, he alleged.

Higgs has been receiving payments through garnishments of several Michigan counties served by MIFSM, confirmed Higgs’ attorney, Stephan M. Gaus.

Higgs also filed a police report over the matter. Saginaw County prosecutors in June 2024 contacted the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to request a special prosecutor evaluate the case. The AG’s Office in September referred the matter to the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office.

MLive was unable to reach that office for comment, but records indicate Stockman is not charged with a crime.

Stockman is due before Jurrens again on Monday, April 7, in the matter of a lawsuit filed against him and MIFSM by Dr. Russell L. Bush.

Saginaw County in 2019 entered a 10-year contract with MIFSM to provide medical examination duties such as investigating causes of death and performing autopsies. MIFSM hired Bush, the county’s medical examiner since 2014, and designated him as the “assigned personnel.” Stockman fired Bush in November 2021 but claimed to county officials he had “stepped down,” according to public records.

MIFSM also issued a media release in April 2022 stating Bush was fired for “incompetence and misleading/potentially false credentials.”

The county terminated its contract in 2021 due to Bush’s unauthorized termination and Stockman allegedly performing autopsies without proper certification. Thereafter, the county reaffirmed Bush as its medical examiner.

Bush’s suit went to arbitration overseen by Kenneth W. Schmidt, a former Bay County Circuit Court judge. Schmidt issued an opinion in late February 2025, finding Stockman owed Bush $551,800 and that he acted with intent and malice.

Attorney Gaus, also representing Bush, drafted an award for Judge Jurrens to sign based on Schmidt’s opinion.

Jurrens previously ordered Stockman to pay $3,560 in sanctions for his behavior in court and attorney fees. That sum also has not been paid, Gaus said.

Stockman’s attorney, James J. Kelly, on March 31 filed a motion to withdraw as the doctor’s representative, citing a breakdown in their relationship since Schmidt rendered the award amount.

Two doctors in other states have filed lawsuits against Stockman and his ventures, alleging he hired them to provide remote work for which he did not pay them.

Dr. Robert Odze, a professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, in February 2023 filed a lawsuit against Stockman and Michigan Health Clinic in the Superior Court of Massachusetts’ Suffolk County. MHC is a corporation Stockman owns at 3925 Fortune Blvd. in Saginaw Township.

Washington, D.C.-based dermatologist Dr. Kishore L. Jayakumar in June 2023 filed a federal suit against Stockman and MHC, claiming they did not pay him an estimated $142,369.20 he was owed for his work.

Both of those cases are pending. Attorney Jonathan D. Plaut, representing Odze, said a motion to dismiss was filed by Stockman’s attorney in July 2023 and is still awaiting a hearing.

“We haven’t started discovery and this case is over two years old,” Plaut said. “This causes people to lose confidence in the swift administration of justice. People don’t see the courts as a viable venue to redress grievances.”

Stockman’s licenses as medical doctor and controlled substances provider remain active and are set to expire Sept. 8.

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