E. L. James' erotic bestselling novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" is hitting cinemas on Feb. 13, 2015, but could it also hit the courtroom? One of the book's publishers may have to as two women from Texas are reportedly suing.

Reuters reported that Christa Beebe and Jennifer Lynn Pedroza filed a lawsuit against The Writers Coffee Shop, an Australian publishing company based in New South Wales, and Amanda Hayward, the company's chief executive, on Thursday. The pair claim that they were on the "Fifty Shades of Grey" publishing team before being "tricked into surrendering" by the publishing company, according to Reuters.

The lawsuit alleges that Hayward made it so that Beebe and Pedroza missed out on advances and royalties. Beebe and Pedroza claim that Hayward did this by making a deal with Random House that sent payments to Hayward but not her colleagues.

"She then fraudulently induced Pedroza and Beebe into signing 'service agreements' with TWCS and subsequently terminated both of them," the lawsuit reads.

According to Vintage Books, "Fifty Shades of Grey" American publisher, the book sold over 100 million copies worldwide as of February.

This lawsuit isn't the only negative attention that "Fifty Shades of Grey" has gotten ahead of its movie adaptation release. Recently, Dr. Charlotte Jones, the chair of the British Medical Association's General Practitioners Committee, named the tale Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele's love affair as a reason for the increasing STI rates of 45- to 65-year-olds, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said more than tripled in the United States in the past decade, according to NY Daily News.

"When it comes to forgetting about safe sex, we always think of the vulnerability of young people, but there's the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' effect where older people are being more explorative but not necessarily remembering to use a condom," he said.

The "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie stars Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele, Victor Rasuk as Jose Rodriguez, Rita Ora as Mia Grey and Jennifer Ehle as Anastasia's mother. James is a producer, and Sam Taylor-Johnson is director. Filming for the movie finished in March.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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