The granddaughter of Harold Lloyd has filed a $50-million lawsuit in Los Angeles against the Walt Disney Studio, claiming that its 1998 film The Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler, was actually a variation of Lloyd's 1924 film The Freshman.

The lawsuit lists 56 specific similarities and adds: "There is ... similarity in plot, action, theme, mood, characters and setting. Although some of those elements have been modified to please the '90s audience and to employ the '90s technology, reviews of The Waterboy in respected American publications immediately recognized and reported the defendant's film to be a '90s copy of The Freshman."

Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy received joint credit for writing The Waterboy but were not named as defendants in the suit filed by Suzanne Lloyd Hayes.

Source: Studio Briefing