Max Miller’s ex-wife sues him for sharing image of daughter as part of custody battle

Emily Moreno, the ex-wife of Max Miller, has sued the embattled Republican congressman and his lawyer for uploading a picture of their infant daughter to a publicly accessible Dropbox folder as part of their custody battle.

The complaint argues that Miller “recklessly published and disclosed to the world a nude image” of their daughter. The photos in the lawsuit were part of a tranche of evidence that Miller’s team compiled in response to the domestic abuse allegations the lawmaker is facing following his divorce. Those allegations include holding a gun to Moreno’s head, pouring boiling water on her, and actions that resulted in his two-year-old daughter’s collarbone being broken, all of which Miller denies.

Miller, who is seeking re-election in Ohio, has faced a wave of calls to resign, including from members of his own party and his father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a Republican senator. However, Donald Trump has remained largely supportive of the congressman, who represents a conservative district, and there are reports that the White House squashed efforts to replace him on the ballot in November’s midterm election.

The suit alleges that Miller “so desperately wanted to salvage his political job” that he “recklessly and intentionally” provided his lawyer (Aaron Minc) with “a trove of documents and photos, indifferent about what they contained or how they were used”.

Miller then shared the link to the files online after he went live on social media to refute the allegations against him on 2 August. Moreno’s lawyers note that “more than 400,000 people saw or interacted with” Miller’s posts containing the Dropbox folder.

The lawsuit – filed in US district court for the northern district of Ohio – demands the court award $150,000 in damages for “every time someone accessed, transferred, distributed, published, or downloaded the image” of their daughter.

At the time, Minc had accepted sole responsibility for inadvertently releasing the unredacted image of Moreno and Miller’s daughter in the files.

The Guardian has reached out to both Miller and Minc for their response to the latest lawsuit.

Brian Poindexter, the Democrat running against Miller in November, has ramped up attacks on his opponent. “No one credibly accused of holding a gun to his wife’s head and breaking their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone belongs in the halls of power,” he said recently on X.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has also seized on the moment to add Poindexter to the “Red to Blue” program, which identifies districts the party thinks can be flipped from Republicans to the party for congressional control.

• In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.