Mackinac Island Held ‘Hostage’ by Monopoly, Michigan AG Says in Lawsuit

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI – The Florida-based owner of the Mackinac Island ferries is a monopoly that needs to be checked and broken up, the Michigan Attorney General has said. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an antitrust lawsuit Thursday, Nov. 12, against the Hoffmann Family of Companies, the private equity firm founded by billionaire David Hoffmann, that has bought up the ferry lines in recent years. The ferries are currently operating under the names Arnold Transit Company and Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry.

The company has a “stranglehold” on the island, has sought to raise prices and threatened to suspend ferry services – the main way to and from the island – if it didn’t get its way in a fight with the city of Mackinac Island, Nessel said in an online press conference Thursday after the lawsuit was filed in Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court.

In the lawsuit, she says the owners are using their power to hold the Island, its residents and its economy “hostage.” It’s “as plain and obvious an antitrust case as one I’ve ever filed,” Nessel said. A representative from the Hoffmann Family of Companies could not immediately be reached for comment.

Beyond owning the ferry services, which also deliver food and medical supplies to residents on the island, the Hoffmann companies own accompanying parking lots, both newspapers that cover the island and numerous other companies and parcels, according to the lawsuit. State attorneys will seek a court-ordered divestiture of some of the ferry operations, along with perhaps its accompanying parking lots, said Jonathan Comish, assistant attorney general, during the press conference. The lawsuit also seeks damages, that the companies give up profits from an illegal maneuver, and an injunction to get them to stop.

In making the announcement, Nessel called on the next class of state legislators to act to improve Michigan’s antitrust protections with requirements for pre-acquisition notices for business transactions. The state is far behind other states when it comes to antitrust matters, she argued. She also said that the incoming attorney general for the state, Eli Savit, is aware, on board and supportive of the lawsuit.

The city of Mackinac Island has fought with the Hoffmann companies for several years as the ferry operator sought to raise fares several dollars, charge for what was previously free parking, add other fees and cut back on benefits tied to the services. The operators sued the city in federal court back in 2025 arguing that the city had no authority over the matters. That matter remains pending, but the city did lose a counterclaim on antitrust grounds, according to Nessel’s office.

The state is in a better position to levy such a claim, officials said.

The Detroit News

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