Elisabeth Hasselbeck says a claim that she plagiarized parts of her best-selling diet book, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide, is “without merit.”

“I just want to assure you the allegations are without merit and are being handled appropriately,” the co-host of ABC’s The View said in a brief 20 second statement before the show’s first break on Wednesday morning.

In a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts Monday, Susan Hassett, a self-published author from Cape Cod, alleges that Hasselbeck lifted content from her book on celiac disease “word for word” and used them in The G-Diet, published last month.

Hassett says she sent the former Survivor contestant her book as a courtesy after Hasselbeck disclosed she also has the digestive disorder.

The lawsuit also alleges that the books have a similar organization and chapter format.