Republican Leaders Suing Each Other In Palm Beach County

It’s The Republican Party. It Can Cry If It Wants To…

Tony Ruffa Sues Kevin Neal. Kevin Neal Sues Tony Ruffa. Libel. Slander. Mean.

BY: LITIGATION DESK | BocaNewsNow.com

BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The Republican Party in Palm Beach County is at it again — with new president Kevin Neal filing a counterclaim to a Iibel and slander suit filed by Tony Ruffa late last year.

As we reported exclusively on December 2nd: “the complaint alleges that Kevin Neal, chairman of the Republican Executive Committee in Palm Beach County, made a libelous or slanderous comment against party member Anthony Ruffa back in October. The complaint states that Ruffa — a physician — was accused of spamming Neal and threatening his family. 

From the complaint: “At this meeting, standing at a podium using a microphone, and in his official capacity as the REC Chairman, NEAL verbally made false statements of fact about RUFFA which were published to the REC members in attendance at the meeting. Specifically, NEAL published the following false statements of fact about RUFFA: RUFFA sent over 75 unwanted emails to NEAL’s personal email account; and in these emails, RUFFA threatened NEAL and his family. NEAL also stated to the audience that because of the alleged threatening emails that he received from RUFFA, that NEAL fears for his own safety as well as the safety of his family, and that he filed a criminal complaint against RUFFA with the police.”

Now, Kevin Neal is suing Tony Ruffa — claiming that Ruffa is harassing him and his family. These are highlights from the just-filed claim which you can read, in its entirety, below.

“Ruffa’s aggressive campaign against Neal and the statements directed at Neal, which began almost immediately after Neal assumed the role of Chairman, stated that he was a novice, inexperienced, and incompetent. This created an environment where Neal, as the elected leader of REC, was unfairly targeted before being given a chance to make significant contributions or decisions.

Upon information and belief, these were deliberate acts by Ruffa, calculated to undermine Neal’s leadership, and create a negative perception of the party’s functioning, for the ultimate purpose harassing Neal until he recused himself as Chairman or until being removed in accordance with the Bylaws.

On or about October 25, 2023, Neal, in his capacity as chairman of REC, truthfully stated (during a presentation at a REC meeting) that he had received approximately seventy-five (75) emails from Ruffa to his personal email account, that he felt threatened by the mention of his family in the emails given the birth of his twins and stated that he had filed a police report against Ruffa.

As a result of the events that have taken place, the harassment and intimidation that Neal and his family have been exposed to and the defamatory nature of Ruffa’s statements, Neal was forced to retain the undersigned law firm for the purposes of prosecuting its claims against Ruffa and is obligated to pay a reasonable attorney’s fee to his attorneys.”

The claims continue in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Read the complete counterclaim, here.