Judge Harold Baer dismissed most of the claims in the lawsuit brought by author Dianne Miller that sought $3 million in damages, the N.Y. Daily News reported (XBIZ reported on the lawsuit when it was first filed last year).
The legal saga may not over, as Miller’s attorney Wilbur Colom said his client is considering returning to court. The judge said he would reconsider the lawsuit if some of the legal claims were changed, according to the report in the tabloid.
"I hope it gets some attention now so it makes some money," Colom said. "My client is not going to sit back and let this happen whether or not the book made any money.”
Miller argued that Hunter's debut novel, "Insatiable: The Rise of a Porn Star," was plagiarized from her own manuscript, titled "Insatiable Desires." She emailed it to Hunter in 2005, when Hunter’s own effort to pen a semi-autobiographical title failed. Miller was never compensated for her work or alerted that her manuscript had been sold.
Last year, St. Martin’s Press published Hunter’s novel with co-author Michelle Valentine.
Hunter, a former Vivid Entertainment contract performer, was an active performer between 1998 and 2000. She also has recorded music CDs and appeared in mainstream films.
Miller is a former acquisitions editor for Indigo, Therion and Indigo After Dark, and also was a marketing representative for Genesis Press Inc. She has published a collection of erotic short stories entitled "Passion's Bedtime Stories" and written a second collection entitled "Passion's Fire."
