The Strange Divorce Case Against DAVID LEE ROTH

[Top Jimmy]

stolen from blabbermouth.net:
According to The Morning Call, an Allentown, Pennsylvania woman claims she's married to VAN HALEN's David Lee Roth.
For the past four years, the woman, acting as her own attorney, has been trying to divorce the singer in Lehigh County Court, although Roth's publicist says he's not married to her. And, because she can't afford it, Lehigh County has waived the filing fee.

Roth is one of 18 defendants the woman has targeted in nearly two dozen lawsuits, complaints and appeals in federal and county courts since 1997. Those suits have claimed countless hours from judges, lawyers, clerks and defendants. And because the woman doesn't have much money, some have been filed at the expense of counties and the federal government. In only two cases has she been successful.

[chefcraig]

Here is the original article from The Morning Call, and the case is fucking bizarre, to say the least! Just wait until you get a look at this nut-job.

The strange case against David Lee Roth

Divorce suit targeting Van Halen's former lead singer is one of many filed by Allentown woman.

By Kevin Amerman

Of The Morning Call

May 9, 2010

ALLENTOWN, Pa. Rock singer David Lee Roth has been a puppet, pirate, a poet, a pauper, a pawn and a king, according to his 1986 hit "That's Life."

One thing he's never been, according to his publicist, is married to Jo Ann Fonzone of Allentown.

But for the past four years, Fonzone, acting as her own attorney, has been trying to divorce the former lead singer of Van Halen in Lehigh County Court. And, because she can't afford it, Lehigh County has waived the filing fee.

Roth is one of 18 defendants Fonzone has targeted in nearly two dozen lawsuits, complaints and appeals in federal and county courts since 1997. Those suits have claimed countless hours from judges, lawyers, clerks and defendants. And because Fonzone doesn't have much money, some have been filed at the expense of counties and the federal government. In only two cases has Fonzone been successful.

"When [the clerks] see her, they all want to run," (they ain't alone! ) said Susan Bloom, Lehigh County's chief deputy clerk of judicial records, explaining that Fonzone takes up a lot of court personnel's time.

Fonzone dismisses any suggestion that she is burdening the system.

"Wasting the court's time? If they would prosecute criminals in this county and not victims, I wouldn't have to file," she said.

Fonzone and others who have filed lawsuits on their own behalf are within their rights to file as many as they choose. While some may see those filings as burdensome, they reflect a basic principle of the American justice system, said Mark C. Rahdert, a law professor at Temple University's Beasley School of Law.

"There is a recognized right of access to courts and it's recognized as one of the basic rights of U.S. citizens," Rahdert said. "I think our system of justice is messy in many ways, but I think we have one of the greatest systems in the world and part of the reason for that is the accessibility."

Fonzone's cases often involve a celebrity. Along with Roth, she has made allegations against Cary Woods, a Hollywood film executive who has produced "Scream," "Swingers," "Rudy" and "So I Married an Axe Murderer." And in Lehigh County criminal court, a judge ordered her to stay away from Judy McGrath, CEO of MTV Networks, after Fonzone allegedly tried to take out a credit card in her name.

U.S. District Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen dismissed a freedom of information lawsuit Fonzone filed against the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2002, calling it "borderline frivolous." She was trying to get the IRS to turn over records she believed would prove her allegations that Roth had stolen her identity, a claim she also makes in her divorce case.

In dismissing the case, Van Antwerpen warned Fonzone that she'd have to pay attorneys' fees and other costs for any "future frivolous" lawsuits, according to court records.

'Master of Disguise'

Fonzone said on a resume that she runs a "self legal representation" law firm in Allentown and in an interview with The Morning Call said she has only herself as a client. She is a 1986 graduate of Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif., the college confirmed. She has never been licensed to practice law in California or Pennsylvania, records show, but usually represents herself in court.

Slim, with long black hair, Fonzone, 51, claims she met Roth at New York University in the late 1970s and married him in 1983. She said he went by the name Cary J. Woods. NYU confirmed that Fonzone graduated from the school in 1980 and said a Cary J. Woods, with the birthday Fonzone uses in court documents, graduated from the school in 1979.

Fonzone said she didn't realize Woods was actually David Lee Roth until 1993 — even though she attended a Van Halen concert in Los Angeles during their "marriage." She claims she thought Roth was an entertainment agent with the William Morris agency, not a rock star.

"He's the master of disguise," Fonzone said in a March interview.

Fonzone alleges in the divorce filing that Roth has abused her physically and financially through identity theft. She has tried to mail the divorce filing to filmmaker Woods, who, according to online biographies, has worked for the William Morris entertainment agency, which has represented Van Halen.

Woods did not return several phone calls seeking comment.

Fonzone said she can't produce photos of herself with Roth or a marriage certificate; she says she left them in California when she left Roth in 1993. She also claims in court documents that Roth used her Social Security number to gain a $50 million credit line.

Fonzone has attempted to get permanent protection-from-abuse orders against Roth twice and once succeeded in gaining a temporary one against him under what she claims is his alias, Cary Woods. That was a surprise to Roth's publicist, Elaine Schock, who doubts Roth and Fonzone have ever met.

Schock called Fonzone's allegations untrue, saying they're "as false as you can get."

Schock said, "If you are in the industry, this will happen to you."

Schock has heard some bizarre stories regarding "Diamond Dave." She said police in Canada once claimed they saved his life after a peanut allergy attack, but it turned out to be a Roth imitator.

Schock, who didn't know about the divorce case, said Roth, 54, is not Cary J. Woods, couldn't have attended college in New York while touring with Van Halen and, to her knowledge, has never been married. She also said the birth date Fonzone uses in court documents against Roth isn't his. NYU said no one named David Lee Roth with the birth date Schock provided for him has attended the college.

In 1997, Fonzone gained a temporary protection-from-abuse order in Lehigh County Court against a Cary J. Woods of Beverly Hills, Calif., claiming he is actually Roth and has harassed and beaten her. It lasted five days until Fonzone withdrew her request for a permanent PFA.

In 2007, Fonzone attempted to gain another one against Cary Woods "AKA David Lee Roth," but it was denied by Lehigh County Judge Maria L. Dantos. Fonzone insists that Woods/Roth "pays criminals to injure me" and "has been physically and verbally abusive in the past," according to her PFA application.

Lehigh County Judge Michele Varricchio has yet to rule on Fonzone's divorce filing. No one has answered the complaint, which was filed in December 2006, and Roth apparently hasn't been served with court papers.

Ensuring a proper hearing

Bethlehem attorney Bohdan Zelechiwsky, whom Fonzone hired to handle her divorce case against Roth, was later sued by Fonzone when he didn't file on her behalf. In response to her lawsuit, he wrote in court documents in 2002 that he determined Fonzone was never married to Roth, and that he believed Fonzone is "irrationally obsessed with this former musician and has fantasized her relationship with this man."

Zelechiwsky said in court documents that when his secretary, Jackie Saylor, gave Fonzone her file back and $200 of her $1,000 retainer fee, Fonzone yelled and spit at Saylor and threw books onto the floor. Fonzone was charged with and convicted of harassment and ended up also suing two other attorneys in Northampton County Court for not taking her case, according to court records. She alleged the three lawyers "work for" David Lee Roth and therefore thwarted the divorce, according to court records. The suit was dismissed.

Alexander Rahman,one of the attorneys Fonzone sued for allegedly not taking her divorce case, said in court documents in 2003 that Fonzone has made "a charade of the legal system for her own benefit."

Rahman said in court documents that Fonzone tried to mortgage the property of a Cary Woods in New York and was charged with attempted grand larceny in the 1990s. The Manhattan district attorney's office did confirm last week that Fonzone was charged with two counts of attempted grand larceny and was acquitted by reason of insanity in April 1995, following a trial. The district attorney's office wouldn't discuss the case and said records of it have been purged.

Stressing that Woods is not David Lee Roth and that neither is Fonzone's husband, Rahman wrote in court documents, "Ms. Fonzone's delusions are a waste of the court's valuable time and resources. They are also very troublesome, costly, time consuming and emotionally burdensome to the victims/defendants." Rahman said Fonzone had contacted him several times, but she never hired him and he never agreed to take the case.

Northampton County Judge Edward G. Smith, who presided over the case against Rahman and the two other attorneys, said it's sometimes a challenge to provide a "pro se" plaintiff -- someone who files on their own behalf -- the opportunity to make claims while protecting defendants from what could be a waste of time and money.

"Judges must be very careful not to dismiss something without a proper hearing," he said.

Smith said courts are also reluctant to force a pro se plaintiff to pay defendants' attorneys' fees when their cases are dismissed for "fear that would chill the right of an everyday American to file a case."

Judges in Pennsylvania were given more power a few weeks ago to limit complaints filed by plaintiffs on their own, or pro se. A change went into effect on April 8, allowing judges to stop pro se plaintiffs from filing "the same or related claims" against "the same or related defendants" after complaints they've filed have been dismissed.

Who pays?

Lehigh County is left with the bill for the divorce case because Fonzone successfully argued that her income was low enough to entitle her to the court's help in covering costs. She also has gained "in forma pauperis" status in a dismissed county lawsuit, a criminal case and two failed federal cases, saving her about $800 in filing fees altogether.

Fonzone wasn't granted the "in forma pauperis" status in the Northampton County case against the three lawyers, but Smith noted that decision can be tricky too.

"There's case law that says even if the facts seem incredulous, you still must give them an opportunity" to file a case under the status, Smith said.

Court records show Fonzone did win a 2007 small claims judgment of $4,081 against David Huber of Wescosville. In that case, filed in magisterial district court in Allentown, Fonzone said Huber told her his cousin was an attorney and would handle her divorce case. She said she gave him $4,000, but never received the services of an attorney.

She also won a $2,074 judgment in magisterial district court against Summit Bank in Allentown in 1998, according to court records, but because the case is so old it's no longer available to view, according to District Judge Patricia Engler's office.

A criminal case against Fonzone in Lehigh County stands more than a foot high because she continues to file motions despite pleading guilty to resisting arrest and being sentenced to probation in the case a decade ago.

South Whitehall Township police said Fonzone ran from her home on March 9, 2000, cursing officers who tried to interview her about allegations she tried to get a credit card under the name Judy McGrath, of MTV. The court dropped a forgery charge. At sentencing, President Judge William H. Platt ordered Fonzone to stay away from McGrath and to get a psychiatric evaluation.

Platt said in court documents in 2001 that Fonzone alleged police "continue to harass, beat and falsely arrest" her. "Not one of these allegations was supported by evidence," he said.

Fonzone, Platt said in the documents, "is no stranger to making unsupported allegations." He has rejected several of her motions for "in forma pauperis" status. Judge Kelly L. Banach, the second judge to preside on Fonzone's criminal case, later granted Fonzone's request to proceed under that status, court records show.

That case led Fonzone to file a lawsuit against the Lehigh County district attorney's office and South Whitehall police in May 2003, alleging malicious prosecution. The case was dismissed, and so was her appeal.

Ten years after the resisting-arrest charge was filed, Fonzone was trying to persuade a third judge -- James T. Anthony -- to expunge it from her record.

At an April 8 hearing, Fonzone stormed out of Anthony's courtroom when the prosecution argued against Fonzone's request for a continuance.

"I get no cooperation from the day this case has gone on," Fonzone shouted before quickly walking out. "Ten years -- it was a wrongful arrest."

After she left, Anthony dismissed her request for expungement and ruled the case closed.

On May 3, Fonzone filed an appeal to Anthony's decision with state Superior Court.

Meanwhile, she awaits the next development in her divorce case against Roth.

[Sensible Shoes]

POsted before seeing the photo etc. It's a major hoot, isn't it? What rocks do these people crawl out from under?

[sadaist]

And, because she can't afford it, Lehigh County has waived the filing fee.

Actually pretty easy to get it waived if you file on your own without an attorney.

[GreenBayLA]

Married in 1983? I think we've found the Yoko Ono of Van Halen. Damn you Jo Ann "Fun Zone" Fonzone!!!

[Terry]

Famous people attract various types of leeches, stalkers and various other miscreants looking to make a buck or a name for themselves by attaching to a celebrity. No big news flash there, right?

The sad cases are when the nutters come out of the woodwork, unable to distinguish fantasy from reality a la Mark David Chapman.

Too bad for Dave he has to contend with this stuff, but like his rep said, it's sadly part of the price of fame.

[DaveTheScott]

Article is incorrect...

What's this "former lead singer" shit? Dave IS the lead singer. Bitches.

[Seshmeister]

Finally Roth's publicist gets to do some work...

[Diamondjimi]

A fuckin nutjob, window licker . Just a cuntpletely useless member of society, who tries to make a living suing people.
Someone should push her under a bus...

[Hardrock69]

That bitch claims David Lee Roth stole her identity.

Hardly.

Last thing I heard he is still calling himself David Lee Roth.

Fucking nutjob.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Just goes to show, there are some strange fucking people in this country....

Come to think of it, there are some strange fucking people on this board.....

[jero]

LOL! Is it the same bitch he writes about in CFTH?

[Seshmeister]

<object width="853" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AwDka-OqwtI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0 x9461ca"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AwDka-OqwtI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0 x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="853" height="505"></embed></object>

[Blaze]

Has this ever been written about before this article?

[Igosplut]

LOL! Is it the same bitch he writes about in CFTH?

That was the first thing I figured reading this thread...