Geena Davis is suing two Minnesota residents who she claims took her idea for a charitable foundation and promoted it as their own.
- Aug 29, 2007
AceShowbiz - Move over people, Geena Davis is making her big step to the court. The actress is suing two Minnesota residents, the owners of a local non-profit group, whom she claimed to have stolen her idea for a charitable foundation and promoting it as their own.
In the suit she filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday August 27th, Davis said she came up with the idea for See Jane foundation, an organization focused on exploring the depiction of gender in children's media, in 2004.
She alleged that Joseph Kelly and Nancy Gruver, owners of the Dads & Daughters non-profit organization, agreed to be the project's fiscal sponsors after meeting with her and that she raised nearly $750,000 in donations. In fact, the pair later informed her "that they were the owners of the See Jane project and whatever legal rights existed in the See Jane name and goodwill," the suit stated.
Davis, furthermore, said Kelly and Gruver also told others they owned the project and have used her name and likeness without her permission to promote Dads & Daughters.
The Oscar-winning actress thus asked a judge to rule that the charity See Jane belongs to her and order Joseph Kelly and Nancy Gruver to stop using her celebrity and goodwill to promote their nonprofit group while is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Kelly and Gruver, elsewhere, said they were "shocked" to learn Davis filed the suit and have said in a joint statement, "The lawsuit, which we believe has no legal merit, is filled with inaccuracies and false allegations."
