MORGAN FREEMAN LAWSUIT GIVEN DEADLINE: Judge wants proposals from both parties by mid-July.

       Demaris Meyer claims the 72-year-old Oscar-winner was negligent when the car he was driving ran off the side of a rural Mississippi highway in August. Meyer was a passenger in the car when it flipped several times. Both of them were seriously injured.      

       Freeman's attorney has said in court papers that Meyer shares blame for the accident.      

       U.S. Magistrate S. Allan Alexander has scheduled a July 29 conference on the case in U.S. District Court in Oxford.       

       Last week, the National Enquirer reported that Freeman has been having an affair for the past 10 years with his 27-year-old step-granddaughter, E'Dena Hines – the granddaughter of Morgan's first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw.      

       The tabloid quoted an unnamed source who says their relationship began when she was a teen and not only contributed to his split from Myrna, his wife of 25 years, but also led to the breakup with his longtime mistress, former schoolteacher Mary Joyce Hays.