Lawyer's Family Sues Filmmaker

NEW YORK - Alberta Bowers recently saw the movie "Philadelphia," and all she could say was, "There's Geoffrey. There's my son."

Geoffrey Bowers, a 33-year-old Manhattan attorney, was fired in 1986 from his law firm. Bowers sued and claimed he was fired because he had AIDS, a premise similar to that of "Philadelphia."

Yesterday Bowers' mother and brothers, Charles and Dana, and Bower's executor filed a $10 million lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, accusing producer Scott Rudin of breach of contract, and illegally appropriating details of the lawyer's life story. The suit also named TriStar Pictures, screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, producer Edward Saxon and director Jonathan Demme.

According to the Associated Press, TriStar said the movie was inspired by dozens of cases.

Among those cases was that of Clarence Cain.

It unfolded in Philadelphia in 1990, and Cain won the discrimination case against his employers before he lost his life to AIDS.

Cain worked for one of the multi-state chain of Hyatt Legal Services offices. The chain's head, Joel Hyatt, is now running for the Senate, the Democratic favorite for the Ohio seat being vacated by his father-in-law, Howard Metzenbaum.

TriStar spokesman Ed Russell said: "The film `Philadelphia' is not the story of Geoffrey Bowers. (It) . . . is a fictional story which addresses a regrettably recurring theme of AIDS discrimination in this country."

In 1988, about a year after Bowers died, Rudin contacted the lawyers for Bowers' estate and told them he was interested in making a movie based on the lawyer's story, the lawsuit said.

The lawyers say Rudin and the family had a verbal agreement that the movie would be developed and that the family would be paid, although the amount had not been determined. The family has received no money from the film, their lawyers said yesterday.

According to the lawsuit, Robert Balsam, one of the family's lawyers, flew to Hollywood in 1988 to meet with Rudin. Later, Rudin attended Bowers' hearing in Manhattan. Then Rudin met with the Bowers family; Bowers' lover, who has since died; and friends in Massachusetts.

According to the lawsuit, Rudin hired Nyswaner to write the screenplay, then sold the rights to Bowers' story to Orion Pictures. In 1991, in a bankruptcy court, TriStar Pictures acquired the rights from Orion.

Recently, the New York state Division of Human Rights awarded the Bowers estate $500,000 after ruling that his law firm, Baker & McKenzie, fired him because he had AIDS. The case is being appealed.