In September 2019, Nunes sued political journalist Ryan Lizza and Hearst Magazines, the publisher of "Esquire", alleging that a 2018 "Esquire" story had damaged his reputation. Lizza wrote that Nunes's family had "secretly" moved its dairy operation from California to Iowa in 2007. Nunes did not specifically contest the veracity of Lizza's reporting, but claimed he "fabricated a 'secret' where none existed". By the time "Esquire" published the piece, "The Bee" had already covered the move to Iowa. Nunes alleged in the suit that "Lizza stalked Plaintiff's grammar-school aged nieces, behaved like a sex offender or pedophile cruising the local neighborhood for victims, frightened a family member to tears, and exploited a grieving mother." United States District Judge C. J. Williams, a Trump appointee, dismissed this suit in its entirety on August 5, 2020.