Lawyer Says Jersey Shore Fight Was A “Non-Incident”

Sammi's Lawyer Says Jersey Shore Fight Was A 'Non-Incident'

A lawyer for a cast member of MTV’s Jersey Shore said Wednesday that an encounter between his client and another woman at a South Florida nightclub was a “non-incident.”

James Leonard Jr., who represents Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, said he spoke with her Tuesday after the woman accused the reality show star of punching her twice in the head Saturday night.

Kristen DeMinco showed reporters a bruise under her eye during a news conference outside Miami Beach police headquarters. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said authorities would review the allegations to see if charges are appropriate.

Leonard would not go into detail about what transpired between the women. He said he expects Giancola to be cleared once all the facts are known.

“This is attention-seeking behavior on behalf of the alleged victim, an opportunity to get her name in the papers as evidenced by her press conference,” Leonard said. “The whole thing is a mockery, an absolute dog-and-pony show.”

DeMinco said she plans to file a lawsuit over the incident, but Leonard dismissed the threat.

“There is no lawsuit here,” the attorney said. “She says she got slapped in the face. It’s not even worth the filing fees.”

DeMinco said Giancola confronted her in the VIP area of the nightclub Dream after she struck up a conversation with a man who apparently was Giancola’s boyfriend.

MTV has declined comment on the incident.

Source: The Associated Press

Sammi Allegedly Attacks Woman

Sammi Allegedly Attacks Woman

A 24-year-old woman says she was punched by a female cast member of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” at a Miami Beach nightclub.

Kristen DeMinco says Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola punched her on Saturday after she struck up a conversation with Sammi’s boyfriend, Ronnie Magro. Her lawyers said at a news conference outside the police department that they were filing a report and that they plan to sue Giancola and MTV.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said authorities would review the allegations to see if charges are appropriate.

An MTV spokeswoman declined to comment and said she didn’t think Giancola had an agent. A talent agency in New York that once handled some of Giancola’s booking said it no longer represents her.

Source: The Associated Press

Pauly D Brings On Another Lawsuit For MTV

Pauly D Brings On Another Lawsuit For MTV

Jersey Shore producers and MTV are violating the state’s racketeering statutes, charges a Toms River lawyer who is representing a man who claims he was attacked by star Paul “DJ Pauly D” Delvecchio during filming last summer.

Kenneth Hoffman of Forked River says he was at the Bamboo Bar in Seaside Heights with a friend when Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino started making kissy faces at the friend, according to Hoffman’s attorney, John Novak, who filed the suit with Jean Donoghue-Simon. Novak says bar workers then grabbed both men, one of them wrapping his arm around Hoffman’s neck in a chokehold, while Pauly D ran over from another part of the bar and punched Hoffman, causing damage to his spine for which he needed surgery. Pauly D is not facing any criminal charges in the incident, according to the Ocean County prosecutor’s office and Seaside Heights Municipal Court.

“Ocean County residents should not be used as props for this production company’s profits and ratings,” Novak says. “[Hoffman] was savagely victimized and sustained permanent injuries as a direct result of the defendants’ continuing course of profit-motivated criminal conduct.” (Hence the racketeering allegation.)

The defendents are Delvecchio, MTV, MTV’s parent company Viacom, 495 Productions, which produces the show, Bamboo Bar, and Bamboo Bar worker Thomas McDade. An MTV spokeswoman says the network doesn’t respond to pending litigation, and no one answered the phone at Bamboo Bar.

On Friday, a Superior Court judge in Toms River allowed RICO and assault claims to stand in two other lawsuits filed by three people who also say they were attacked by a “Jersey Shore” castmate (Ronnie Magro, who still faces felony aggravated assault charges in one of the cases.)

Source: The Star-Ledger

Jersey Shore Lawsuit Moves Forward

A judge in New Jersey has agreed to hear a lawsuit that claims producers of MTV’s hit reality show “Jersey Shore” engaged in a “criminal enterprise” by profiting from showing fights that cast members deliberately provoked.

Attorney Eugene LaVergne of Long Branch said Monday that he filed the suit in March.

It seeks unspecified monetary damages on behalf of three clients involved in drunken fights with cast member Ronnie Magro.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Joseph L. Foster denied a motion to dismiss the claim that the defendants’ conduct violated New Jersey’s racketeering statute.

An MTV spokeswoman has not returned after-hours messages left Monday seeking comment.

Source: The Associated Press