The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice’s husband, Luis Ruelas, and his ex-fiancée Vanessa Reiser’s legal case heated up in court with former RHONJ star Kim DePaola being dragged into the battle, Us Weekly can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by Us, DePaola — known as “Kim D” to Bravo fans — is at the center of an argument in the case. She starred as a “guest” on seasons 2 and 3, then became a “friend” of the Housewives on seasons 4 and 5, making additional appearances on seasons 7 and 8. In recent court documents, Reiser claimed Ruelas, 50, accused her of talking about him to DePaola. She denied the claims that she did anything wrong.
Ruelas and Reiser split in late 2020 after two years together. A couple of months after the split, Ruelas filed legal documents against Reiser and demanded she give the engagement ring back while detailing issues over money.
Reiser filed a counterclaim denying all claims of wrongdoing and accusing Ruelas of being controlling and causing harm to her business. They both deny all allegations of wrongdoing from the other.
In July 2020, the exes reached a deal where Ruelas kept the engagement ring and both parties were ordered not to make derogatory statements to third parties about the other.
In October 2024, Ruelas filed new court documents accused Reiser of violating the court order by posing defamatory content on social media. He asked that she be found in contempt.
Reiser’s lawyer denied the claims. He said, “each and every exhibit [Ruelas] has used to allegedly establish a violation … and to establish and alleged contempt, has been refuted and disputed by [Reiser]. Indeed, there is no evidence to establish she violated the consent order; nor is there any proof that [Ruelas] was damaged in any way.”
In the recent filing, Ruelas demanded one of Reiser’s lawyers Douglas Anton be disqualified because he previously represented DePaola. Anton is co-counsel to Reiser’s lead counsel, Richard Schioppo.
Ruelas said DePaola is a crucial witness in the case and argued it was a conflict for Reiser to be represented by DePaola’s former lawyer.
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“The ethical concerns surrounding an attorney who is caught between conflicting loyalties — namely, his duty to Defendant Reiser and his prior attorney-client relationship with Kim Depeola — undermine the fairness of the proceedings,” Ruelas’ attorney argued.
“Given Mr. Anton’s prior representation of Kim DePaola and his ongoing involvement with her in a professional capacity, there is no question that his continued representation of Reiser is impermissible under both ethical and legal standards,” he added.
Anton opposed the request claiming Ruelas offered no evidence his prior representation of DePaola would impact her testimony.
He said, “While I certainly do appreciate the concern, this is simply not the case as the representation of Ms. DePaola in the past on the matters for which I have represented her, in no way affects the current representation of defendant Reiser. In fact, it was Ms. DePaola who first referred defendant Reiser to me for me to represent her against plaintiff Ruelas years ago when he was unjustly attacking her.”
DePaola filed a declaration in the case backing up Anton. She said she knew the attorney for over 15 years and there was no “confidential” information that is protected by the attorney client privilege that could in any way affect the lawsuit at hand.
“There is no reason I can fathom that Doug should be disqualified from this case,” she said.
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In her filing, Reiser claimed she had been friends with DePaola since 2021, who referred her to Anton. The motion to disqualify was denied on August 7.
Back in April 2020, Ruelas filed his lawsuit against Reiser demanding a temporary order of protection, the return of the engagement ring and “other property conditioned upon the parties’ marriage” and all money spent on authorized transactions.
In addition, he asked for a restraining order preventing Reiser from using their joint credit card or joint funds. Ruelas also asked for legal fees.
In court documents, Ruelas said he started dating Reiser in 2018 and were engaged by early 2019. He said he bought her a four carat princess cut diamond ring worth $135,000. He said he also supported her while she studied for a license. He said they bought a $1.7 million home and he spent hundreds of thousands on renovations. He said he paid thousands in deposits for the wedding.
He pleaded for a court order restricting Reiser from communicating with him, the return of the engagement ring and various other requests over money spent.
In response, Reiser slammed Ruelas’ alleged behavior during the relationship. She claimed she was forced to “cater to his constant, selfish demands.”
“If she declined to do so, he would be nasty, cold and withdrawn,” the suit claimed. Reiser claimed, except for the engagement ring, none of the gifts Ruelas gave her were delivered with the condition of marriage attached. Reiser said she would return the engagement ring.
In court documents, she portrayed Ruelas as controlling.
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In a counterclaim, Reiser claimed Ruelas abandoned her in Massachusetts in October 2019 and then padlocked their New Jersey home. She also accused him of causing harm to her business. She said the relationship officially ended in March 2020.
Ruelas denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
On top of the lawsuit, Reiser also sought a restraining order against Ruelas in 2023, but the court denied the request.
Ruelas and Giudice, 53, started dating in the summer of 2020. They got engaged in October 2021 and wed in 2022.
