Lawsuit of the Day: Jersey Shore Victim Wants DVDs Suppressed

The MTV reality series Jersey Shore revolved around drinking, hook-ups, muscles, and physical altercations. The antics of Snooki (pictured), J-Woww, Pauly D, and the rest of the crew captured the nation’s imagination. The series DVD collection, to be released soon, will likely sell well.
But one of the victims of a Ronnie beatdown hopes to prevent that. From the Asbury Park Press:

The attorney for a Berkeley man, beaten during an episode of MTV’s controversial reality show “Jersey Shore,” will be in Superior Court today, trying to block the planned release on Tuesday of the DVD set of the show’s first season.

Eatontown attorney Eugene M. LaVergne will appear before Superior Court Judge Joseph Foster seeking an order banning distribution of the DVD set and barring MTV from continuing to air two episodes, one in which his client was beaten, and the other in which Ronnie Ortiz, a cast member of the reality show, brags about the beating,

So what’s The Situation?


Stephen Izzo Jr., 26, was attacked by cast member Ronnie near the end of the season, upsetting Sammi Sweetheart when Ronnie was hauled off to jail and charged with aggravated assault.
Now Izzo wants to profit from Jersey Shore’s success:

LaVergne also filed a lawsuit last week on Izzo’s behalf seeking unspecified monetary damages. Named as defendants in the suit are Ortiz, MTV, its parent company, Viacom International, various producers of the show as well as unnamed directors, camera operators and bodyguards associated with it, and Karma Nightclub in Seaside Heights, from which the assault emanated.
“The law prohibits people from profiting from a criminal case,” LaVergne said. “What you have is a criminal act that MTV orchestrated and had the ability to prevent, and are profiting from.”

UPDATE: How did the judge rule on the request to stop the DVD release? Find out here.
As an aside, we love the lawsuit’s description of the show:

“The show, taken as a whole, in general portrays Italian-Americans in a negative manner, often uses the words ‘guido’ and “guidette,’ endorses the use of illegal anabolic steroids for muscle enhancement and portrays the cast/characters/participants in scenarios where they go out to nightclubs and get intoxicated and interact with each other and members of the actual Jersey Shore summer community,” the lawsuit said.

Sponsored

“Interact with each other” — is that what the mainstream media kids are calling it these days?
By Izzo’s logic, Snooki’s aggressor — the one who sucker-punched the pint-sized, self-described “guidette,” causing much controversy for MTV — might want to keep his eye on other Jersey Shore commercial projects. The Smoking Gun revealed that Snooki is seeking a trademark for her name, as she may have a book project in the works.
Man asks judge to block release of MTV’s ‘Jersey Shore’ DVD set [Asbury Park Press]
Snooki Memoir Coming? [Smoking Gun]
I, Snooki: ‘Jersey Shore’ Memoir in the Works? [New York Times]

Sponsored