Cynthia Maurizio v. Olivia Goldsmith, AKA Justine Rendal, AKA Randi J. Goldfield

This interlocutory appeal arises out of claims by Cynthia Maurizio that she wrote or collaborated on the book outline and two draft chapters of the successful novel The First Wives’ Club. Maurizio sues defendant Olivia Goldsmith, who submitted the book outline and the complete book for publication, who is recognized as its author, and who has not given Maurizio the credit or the share of royalties and film production rights to which Maurizio claims she is entitled. The eight claims for relief in Maurizio’s complaint rest on two alternative and mutually exclusive theories: that Maurizio is…