By Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007 - Updated: 07:01 PM EST
NEW YORK - Jennifer Lopez has been ordered to answer questions in a lawsuit brought by a television writer who says the actress and UPN stole his idea for a series about the modeling and nightclub scenes in Miami.
Writer Jack Bunick claimed in his lawsuit that "South Beach," a TV series executive-produced by Lopez that debuted in January 2006 on the network, mirrored a plot he outlined in 1999 for a pilot episode of a show that would have been called "South Beach Miami."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman on May 8 ordered Lopez to provide her sworn testimony in the case by June 11. Lopez is among six defendants, including UPN and CBS Television, the companies that broadcast "South Beach." UPN is a division of CBS Television Stations Group.
The lawsuit in Manhattan sought unspecified monetary damages and an injunction barring further broadcasting of "South Beach," which has been canceled.
Lopez's lawyer, Orin Snyder, told Pitman in a February letter that he believed Bunick sued Lopez and sought her deposition "for tactical reasons, in an apparent attempt to obtain some perceived leverage by targeting and harassing a celebrity in a case where she has no meaningful testimony to give and no legitimate reason for being named as a defendant in the first place."
He said Lopez was minimally involved in the creation and development of "South Beach" and was only brought into the development process at a later stage to "lend celebrity to the show." He said a deposition of Bunick had proven the case was "based upon pure speculation."
Sheldon Farber, a lawyer for Bunick, said in his own letter to the court that Lopez was a proper and legitimate defendant.
"Her celebrity is not a shield for her to use to avoid direct testimony in a case in which she has not been named frivolously," Farber wrote. "I am unaware that one of the perks of fame is protection from legal process. She may be inconvenienced by an appearance at a deposition. I can assure the court that I will not ask for her autograph."
I'm fascinated by this, lol. How "Law & Order".
