In the complaint, that lawyers allege that on Oct. 14, 2008, a photo of Christopher was used on the network without the permission of the family to depict the abandoned child of a character played by actor Billy Dee Williams.
In the suit, Gelman is asking for damages of less than $75,000 each for Barrios and Rodriguez, in addition to attorney fees and court costs.
Gelman said Tuesday that the matter should have been resolved by now, but SOAPnet representatives left him little option but to file suit.
He said he waited for the trial of Edenfield, one of three accused of killing the boy, to be over before filing the suit.
"We didn't want to interrupt the integrity of the criminal process," he said.
Stalled by network attorneys, who refused to make the show's propmaster, Paul Strahs, available for interviews, Gelman said he was left with little choice but to proceed.
Strahs, Gelman alleges, would have been the person responsible for procuring props used in the soap opera's scenes.
"(SOAPnet representatives) have put up a brick wall and prevented us from doing any investigation," he said. "Their refusal to allow (Strahs) to give a deposition says a lot about culpability."
Gelman is quick to say that if using Christopher's photo was simply an honest mistake, he will move for the suit to be dismissed.
But "if we find out that this was a sick, demented cruel prank, we're going to go all the way to trial," Gelman said.
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