JEFFERSON CITY — The man running to replace state Rep. Justin Hicks in the Missouri House said the first-term legislator sued him after he published copies online of protective orders filed against Hicks.
Max Calfo, a substitute teacher from Lake Saint Louis, told the Post-Dispatch that Hicks sued him, Calfo’s campaign and campaign treasurer Lindi Williford in December for “public disclosure of private facts.â€
There is no record of the protective orders, or of the lawsuit, available in online court records. Williford wrote Thursday in a Facebook that St. Charles County police served her with the lawsuit on Dec. 4.
Williford said Monday that Hicks requested the lawsuit be sealed.
“His reasoning behind it was because the suit contained the document of the restraining order that†had previously been sealed, Williford said.
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“We filed a motion to unseal,†she said Monday, adding her side had also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Also Monday, Hicks announced that he was running for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District, forgoing reelection to the state House.
“Missouri deserves a fresh conservative voice that has been tested and can be trusted to fix Washington’s mess,†said Hicks, 31, on social media site X, formerly Twitter.
Hicks, who had not filed official paperwork with the secretary of state as of Monday morning, was poised to join a crowded field of seven other Republican candidates running to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer.
Hicks’ entry into the congressional race was set to leave Calfo as the only Republican vying for the 108th House District, at least for now. Candidate filing ends March 26.
Hicks had previously been mentioned as a contender for the 3rd. He did not respond to text messages Friday and Monday from a reporter about the lawsuit.
The Post-Dispatch reported in late November on information that had been posted to Calfo’s website.
Part of the information Calfo published included purported court records in which a woman in 2010 accused Hicks, when he was 17, of attempting to choke her. John O’Sullivan, a spokesman for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Circuit Court, wouldn’t confirm the existence of the records. But O’Sullivan previously said the forms pictured appeared to be documents used by ºüÀêÊÓƵ County courts at that time.
The woman who sought the court-ordered protection, contacted by the Post-Dispatch in November, vouched for the authenticity of the documents.
“The restraining order’s true,†said the woman, who asked that her name be withheld from publication.
In the petition for order of protection, the woman, then 19, said she and Hicks had been in a romantic or intimate relationship.
She checked boxes saying the respondent, Hicks, then of Overland in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, intentionally “caused physical harm to me,†“harassed me,†and “placed me in fear or apprehension of immediate physical harm.â€
The petitioner said that on the day prior, Hicks “grabbed me by the back of the neck and attempted to choke me.â€
“Then he dragged me to his car, telling me we were going somewhere. I told him I didn’t trust him, and he said, ‘You shouldn’t.’â€
Seven Republicans had already filed to run for the open seat, including Arnie Dienoff of O’Fallon; Chad Bicknell of Arnold; Kyle Bone of De Soto; Brandon Wilkinson of Fenton; former state Sens. Bob Onder of Lake Saint Louis and Kurt Schaefer of Columbia; and current state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold.
Democrats running in the heavily Republican district include Bethany Mann of Wentzville and Andrew Daly of Fulton. Libertarian Jordan Rowden is also running.