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Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Frozen-Turkey Victim Returns to Court

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (CN) - When a thrill-seeking teenager hurled a frozen turkey out of a moving car, hitting a pedestrian so grievously that she broke nearly every bone in her face, the incident stayed in the headlines long after the victim recovered.

Victoria Ruvolo famously asked a court to show her teenage assailant mercy after she came out of a weeks-long coma during which doctors reconstructed her face.

Though she reportedly kept her job at a collections agency and received a settlement in a civil suit, Ruvolo also published a book about her 2004 experience and started a publishing company that has now brought her back to court.

In a complaint filed Wednesday with the Suffolk County Supreme Court, Ruvolo says Robert Goldman, her business partner in that publishing venture, is taking advantage of her life story.

Ruvolo and Goldman were each allegedly supposed to contribute $10,000 toward the publishing venture that spawned their company, No Vengeance Publishing.

In the years since the 2011 publication of Ruvolo's memoir, "No Room for Vengeance," "Goldman has engaged in multiple selfish efforts to personally benefit from the book venture and plaintiff's life story," the complaint states.

Ruvolo says it has become apparent that Goldman never committed the full $10,000 and has more recently diverted revenues and business opportunities from No Vengeance Publishing to himself.

Goldman's book-based program "Taste" is just one example of self-dealing, Ruvolo says. The complaint does not otherwise explain what "Taste" is.

Ruvolo says Goldman is also secretly selling copies of the memoir at a discounted price to subsidize his own interests.

She seeks damages, an accounting and attorneys' fees for breach of fiduciary duty, copyright infringement and deceptive practices.

Ruvolo is represented by Ralph Hummel of Woodbury.

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