A New York lawyer, Marie Flaherty, is claiming that she wrote Queen Latifah's hit movie "Bringing Down The House".
Flaherty claims Boston attorney George N. Tobia Jr. agreed to represent her in 1999 as she tried to sell "Amoral Dilemma."
Just a few months later, she says, Tobia called her to say he and a family friend, screenwriter Jason Filardi, had sold a script — "Jailbabe.com," the screenplay that eventually became "Bringing Down the House."
Flaherty confronted Tobia about the similarities, and he told her repeatedly that Filardi's script was a comedy, while hers was a drama, she argues in the lawsuit.
She is asking for $15 Million minimum, but could get more since the movie is ripping up at the box office.
It sounds like a legitimate lawsuit to me. While it is possible that 2 people had the same idea at the same time, both of them going to the same lawyer sounds a bit off. It sounds more like Tobia took her script to a friend and had him rewrite it.