{"id":2499392,"date":"2025-10-15T18:52:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ciattarelli-initiates-defamation-lawsuit-against-opponent-sherrill\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:53:09","slug":"ciattarelli-initiates-defamation-lawsuit-against-opponent-sherrill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ciattarelli-initiates-defamation-lawsuit-against-opponent-sherrill\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciattarelli initiates defamation lawsuit against opponent Sherrill"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fciattarelli-initiates-defamation-lawsuit-against-opponent-sherrill%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2499392&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a candidate for New Jersey governor, has begun the process of filing a defamation lawsuit against his Democratic opponent, Representative Mikie Sherrill. The lawsuit follows Sherrill&#8217;s allegations-made during a recent gubernatorial debate and reinforced via a new website-that Ciattarelli profited from the opioid crisis through his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mikie-sherrill-launches-opioid-jack-website-to-taunt-ciattarelli\/\" title=\"... launches &#039;Opioid ...&#039; website to taunt Ciattarelli\">medical publishing company<\/a>, accusing him of responsibility for thousands of deaths. Ciattarelli&#8217;s legal team has asked the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission whether using personal funds for the lawsuit would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kenosha-flips-red-after-decades-of-democrat-leadership\/\" title=\"Kenosha Flips Red After Decades of Democrat Leadership\">violate campaign finance laws<\/a>, as the case is intended to protect his personal and professional reputation rather than aid his campaign. Meanwhile, Sherrill&#8217;s campaign has criticized Ciattarelli&#8217;s legal threats as an attempt to avoid scrutiny over his business practices. the election is scheduled for November 4.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Ciattarelli initiates defamation lawsuit process against opponent Sherrill<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2374015\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">On Wednesd<\/span>ay, Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli took the first step in initiating a defamation lawsuit against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), his opponent for&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Jersey<\/a>&nbsp;governor.<\/p>\n<p>Ciattarelli&rsquo;s lawyer wrote a letter, obtained by the <em>Washington Examiner,<\/em> to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission asking for confirmation on whether &ldquo;expenditures made in his personal capacity to sue Sherrill in her personal capacity do not constitute a contribution to his campaign or an expenditure against the expenditure cap.&rdquo; The letter stated Ciattarelli believes any of his personal funds spent on the possible lawsuit do neither and asked NJ ELEC for an &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-ruling-in-deportation-case-is-too-little-too-late\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Ruling In Deportation Case Is Too Little Too Late\">advisory opinion&#038;rdquo<\/a>; on the matter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3851781\/mamdani-pledge-arrest-netanyahu-lacks-federal-standing\/\">Mamdani stands by pledge to arrest Netanyahu despite criticism action lacks federal standing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3851012\/vance-dismisses-young-republicans-messages-jay-jones-texts\/\">Vance dismisses &#8216;pearl clutching&#8217; response to Young Republicans messages in wake of Jay Jones texts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3850013\/republicans-launch-crime-focused-ad-buy-in-new-jersey\/\">Republicans launch six<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >-figure crime-focused ad buy<\/a> in New Jersey as election day looms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Ciattarelli threatened to sue Sherrill last week over comments she made during last week&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3843495\/new-jersey-governor-debate-sherrill-ciattarelli\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Jersey gubernatorial debate<\/a>.&nbsp;Sherrill alleged that Ciattarelli profited from the nation&rsquo;s opioid crisis through his medical&nbsp;publishing company and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of adults and children. Sherrill then reaffirmed her comments during a press conference on Monday, launching a website titled &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3849639\/mikie-sherrill-opioid-jack-ciattarelli-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Opioid Jack<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,&rdquo; Sherrill said during the debate.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Republican Jack Ciattarelli, left, and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) participate in the final debate in the New Jersey governor&rsquo;s race, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (AP Photo\/Heather Khalifa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ciattarelli&rsquo;s letter, sent Wednesday afternoon, affirmed he &ldquo;intends to sue Sherrill in his personal capacity using his personal funds to right the damage to his professional reputation,&rdquo; his lawyer, Mark Sheridan, wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today, Jack took the first step in his legal efforts to sue Mikie Sherrill for her defamatory &amp; false allegations related to his small business. In her desperation, Mikie Sherrill&nbsp;crossed a line and sunk to dangerous levels of unhinged rhetoric. New Jersey deserves better, and Jack looks forward to his day in court,&rdquo; the Ciattarelli campaign wrote in a statement to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Sean Higgins, communications director for the Sherrill campaign, called Ciattarelli&rsquo;s threatened lawsuit &ldquo;desperate&rdquo; in a statement to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Perennial gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli has run three times on his history as a &lsquo;small business owner,&rsquo; but the moment Mikie Sherrill pressed him on the truth about his business, which peddled dangerous misinformation about opioids and was paid to develop an app to coach patients to get Hydrocodone, he&rsquo;s threatened to file a desperate lawsuit to shut the conversation down,&rdquo; Higgins said.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the Ciattarelli campaign told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that Sheridan sent the letter to NJ ELEC on Wednesday afternoon and expects to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-seeks-599-million-to-pay-for-illegal-immigration\/\" title=\"Arizona seeks 9 million to pay for illegal immigration\">hear back &#038;ldquo<\/a>;promptly.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ciattarelli called Sherrill&rsquo;s comments a &ldquo;reckless lie&rdquo; on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/video\/6382794537112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fox News<\/a> on Wednesday morning. He first told Maria Bartiromo that &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve filed a defamation suit,&rdquo; though he later said in the interview, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re filing our defamation suit.&rdquo; As of publication time, no lawsuit appears to have been filed.<\/p>\n<p>Higgins called out Ciattarelli&rsquo;s wording on the lawsuit timing in a statement to the <em>Washington Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Now, he&rsquo;s lied three times in the last 24 hours about having filed a lawsuit, which is nowhere to be seen,<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>so we encourage New Jerseyans to go to&nbsp;OpioidJack.com&nbsp;to get the facts,&rdquo; Higgins said, referring to Ciattarelli. The Sherrill communications director pointed to an article from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidernj.com\/ciattarelli-the-ghost-of-fdr-cant-help-sherrill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Insider NJ<\/a> <\/em>and a <a href=\"https:\/\/wabcradio.com\/episode\/jack-ciattarelli-no-one-is-more-ill-prepared-or-underqualified-to-run-new-jersey-than-mikie-sherrill-10-14-25\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">77 WABC<\/a> radio episode, both in which Ciattarelli said he filed the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Sheridan said in the letter that Ciattarelli believes suing Sherrill &ldquo;is not an expenditure in aid of his campaign as it is intended to address his personal and professional reputation and not harm to his campaign.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is Ciattarelli&rsquo;s position that spending more than $25,000 of his own funds to sue Sherrill for defamation is not an expenditure &lsquo;in aid of his campaign.&rsquo; It is a personal matter outside of the campaign context,&rdquo; Sheridan wrote in the letter, referring to a New Jersey law that prohibits candidates from spending over $25,000 of their own money toward their own campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The letter said Ciattarelli&rsquo;s expected lawsuit is &ldquo;certain to cost more than $25,000.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3849639\/mikie-sherrill-opioid-jack-ciattarelli-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>MIKIE SHERRILL LAUNCHES &lsquo;OPIOID JACK&rsquo; WEBSITE TO TAUNT CIATTARELLI DESPITE DEFAMATION LAWSUIT THREATS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>NJ ELEC oversees the campaign finances of all New Jersey state elections. <\/p>\n<p>Election Day is set for Nov. 4 in the Garden State, less than one month away.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ciattarelli begins defamation suit process vs. Sherrill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3976,"featured_media":2499395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mikie-sherrill-jack-ciattarelli.jpg?1759440623&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[57259,39615,60820],"class_list":["post-2499392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-ciattarelli","tag-defamation-lawsuit","tag-sherrill"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mikie-sherrill-jack-ciattarelli.jpg?1759440623&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2499392"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2499397,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499392\/revisions\/2499397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2499395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2499392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2499392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2499392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}