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US tourist attacked in Dublin loses legal battle with own son over €120k cash after case thrown out
Attack victim also revealed name change after horror Dublin incident
THE tourist attacked and left in a coma in Dublin has lost his legal battle against his own son in a row over €120,000 raised online.
Stephen Termini, 57, who sued son Michael ‘Mike’ Rizzuto, claiming he didn’t get any of the GoFundMe cash, has had his case thrown out by a US judge at Erie Supreme Court in the state of New York.
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Termini told the court last month the Irish public donated to the fundraiser set up after the shocking incident in the capital last summer for the money to go to him.
But a lawyer for Rizzuto, who was not present himself, argued that after Termini filed his lawsuit, it was not properly served on the defendant and therefore the case was defective.
In his judgement, Judge Emilio L Colaiacovo ruled in favour of Rizzuto and also ruled that Termini did not have a good cause of action in the case as a whole.
It stated: “Based on the facts presented, it is the Court’s opinion that the Plaintiff has not articulated an excuse for the delay in filing his proof of service with the court.
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“Furthermore, although not on the basis of the motion to dismiss, the Court finds the plaintiff’s complaint does not state a cognizable cause of action. The plaintiff’s lawsuit is unlikely to succeed on the merits.
“Based on the foregoing, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint against is hereby granted, but without prejudice.”
Termini had lodged papers to sue Rizzuto in the legal row surrounding the fundraiser last November.
Rizzuto denied all allegations in documents filed to the court on his behalf.
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New Yorker Termini, 57, was viciously beaten on Talbot Street in Dublin’s north inner city on July 19 last year and was left in a coma.
The incident sparked nationwide outrage about the safety on our streets.
Rizzuto set up a GoFundMe fundraiser following the incident to help with medical expenses and travel costs for the family to fly over to Ireland.
Rizzuto later travelled to Ireland with another sibling to be at Termini’s bedside as he made a miraculous recovery.
However, Termini claimed that he never received any of the €120,000 raised by 4,600 donors on GoFundMe.
Before Erie Supreme Court last month, Termini represented himself as he fumed that Rizutto had “no right to use my name after what happened to me in Europe, and took all the donations and ran off into the wild blue yonder.”
Termini told Judge Colaiacovo that he knew he was a “smart man” and could see what happened, before he hailed the “hard working” Irish public who donated to the fundraiser.
Termini last month told how he still holds a deep love for Ireland despite being the victim of a horror attack and dreams of returning to see out his days here once he is financially capable of doing so.
He also legally changed his surname to Donnelly, after his great grandmother Anne Donnelly who was from Ireland.
Termini told us last month: “Every day I dream of living in Ireland. My great grandmother, she came to the US with the hunger problem in 1800.
“And I’ll have to tell you, after what happened in Dublin last summer, I took my great grandmother’s last name. Her name was Anne Donnelly.”