Overview
- The civil suit, which was docketed in Collier County on July 7, 2026, was filed by local school board member Kelly Mason and asks for compensatory and punitive damages plus a jury trial.
- Mason alleges Rep. Byron Donalds cornered and berated her at Seed to Table in Naples in August 2022 and threatened to “crush” or “finish” her, with a video of the encounter reported to have been recorded by Mason’s daughter.
- The complaint names a senior adviser, Larry Wilcoxson, as a participant who followed and yelled at Mason inside the store, and the filing frames the incident as tied to earlier litigation between Mason and Erika Donalds.
- Donalds’s campaign called the lawsuit a baseless, politically motivated attack and criticized media accounts that relied on a Daily Mail-obtained video, while local reporting confirmed the court filing and its docket entry.
- The case adds a new legal and political complication to Donalds’s governor bid, which includes a Trump endorsement and strong polling, and it could shape voter perceptions and campaign messaging in the run-up to the August 18 primary.