Another Legal Stink For J-Lo

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http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13123,00.html

 

.Lo's "Planner" Pinched?

 

by Lia Haberman

Dec 17, 2003, 9:30 AM PT

 

Call it bad bridal etiquette. A man has accused The Wedding Planner producers of stealing the movie's concept from his own screenplay.

 

Jeffery R. Ballard has slapped a federal copyright infringement lawsuit on Sony Pictures, among others, claiming the 2001 romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez was a rip-off of his screenplay, written in the '90s.

 

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, seeks unspecified damages and a share of the movie's dowry. The Wedding Planner rang up over $60,000 in box-office receipts during its four-month stint in theaters.

 

A call to Sony was not returned.

 

Ballard, a teacher's assistant for special-education students, writes screenplays in longhand during his spare time. According to U.S. Copyright Office records, he has copyrighted four scripts, including two versions of In the Palm of My Hand, the alleged inspiration for the J.Lo flick.

 

Ballard's attorney, Glen A. Huff, said his client had shown the screenplay to "persons in the TV and movie industry" and that they are now working to track down the potential culprit. The 44-year-old scribe noticed the striking similarities between his work and Wedding Planner while watching the feature at his local multiplex.

 

Both stories feature a wedding planner who falls in love with a client, complete with a "happily ever after" ending.

 

It's the third Lopez project causing a legal stink.

 

The Latina lovely is being sued for $3 million by the director of Wedding Planner, who claims she stole his idea for a big-screen adaptation of the opera Carmen.

 

Adam Shankman, who made his directing debut on the 2001 hit, accused Jenny of cutting him out of the picture when she pitched his idea to cast her in the romantic tragedy to Universal.

 

A rep for the Bronx-born babe dismissed the allegations last May, saying, "We have not seen the complaint, but I'm surprised that anyone would have the audacity to claim intellectual domain over a property as well known as Carmen."

 

Meanwhile, the celeb's recent single "I'm Glad" has made people anything but, spawning two lawsuits. First, Lopez was accused of swiping the moves for her new video "I'm Glad" from the '80s dance classic Flashdance. Paramount Pictures, which owns the film, didn't take kindly to the unauthorized homage and sent Sony (parent company of Lopez's label, Epic Records) a cease-and-desist order. That dust-up is expected to be settled between the two media giants without having to go to court.

 

Then the original inspiration for Flashdance--construction worker by day, dancer by night Maureen Marder--filed suit against the former Fly Girl for the unauthorized (and unpaid) depiction of her life. Damages were undisclosed but will no doubt involve a lot of zeroes.