Three members of the Butler PA Patriots group temporarily are forbidden from using the name “Butler County Republican Committee” after a county judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday.

The injunction comes after the Butler County Republican Committee sued a nonprofit by the same name, claiming the nonprofit is trying to “deceive or commit a fraud not only on the public at large, but the state Republican Party.”

A lawsuit filed May 4 in Butler County Common Pleas Court alleges that Bill Halle, a member of the Butler Area School Board, Erik Edwards and Zachary Scherer incorporated a nonprofit by the name “Butler County Republican Committee” with no relation to the actual committee.

“Absent approval by the state Republican Party, which includes filing bylaws with the state Republican Party ... no other entity is permitted to use the name ‘Butler County Republican Committee,’” the lawsuit claims.

A hearing on the committee’s motion for an injunction will be held May 10 before President Judge S. Michael Yeager, who issued the preliminary injunction Wednesday.

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