Judge tosses out lawsuit against J.Lo

updated 6:34 p.m. ET April 30, 2008

NEW YORK - A judge on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit by a television writer who claimed Jennifer Lopez had a hand in stealing his idea for a TV series.

Writer Jack Bunick claimed in a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the series “South Beach” that debuted in January 2006 was too similar to a plot he described in 1999 for a pilot episode of a show that would have been called “South Beach Miami.” The lawsuit named Lopez, UPN, CBS Television and others as defendants.

The show, which has since been canceled, aired on UPN. The show was described as being about best friends Matt and Vincent, who left their lives in Brooklyn to move to South Beach in hope of finding a better future.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said there’s inadequate evidence to take the case to trial. The judge also noted that Bunick admits his scripts includes generic ideas and commonplace elements and aspects of the South Beach, Miami club and modeling scene.

The judge said there was “in fact ... powerful evidence” that the defendants had independently created “South Beach.”

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A lawyer for Lopez had said in court papers that although she was executive producer, Lopez was barely involved in the creation and development of “South Beach” and was only brought in at a later stage to “lend celebrity to the show.”

A lawyer for Bunick did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.

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