Lawyers Deem Lindsay Just a "Semi-Celebrity"

Attorneys say Lindsay Lohan feels "too important" to submit to videotaped deposition in Samantha Ronson case

By Josh Grossberg Oct 27, 2008 8:45 PMTags
Lindsay LohanKiyoshi Ota/Getty Images for Charlotte Ronson

She might have been dumped by Ugly Betty, but here's one role Lindsay Lohan is finding it hard to get away from.

Lawyers in a case pitting Lohan sidekick Samantha Ronson against her former attorney are slamming the the actress for her reluctance in giving a videotaped deposition.

"The only apparent rationale for her demands is that she is Lindsay Lohan and thus too important to be required like everyone else to comply with statutorily specified...obligations," the opposing lawyers argued in a motion filed Friday.

Ronson sued New York-based lawyer Martin Garbus for allegedly bungling her defamation suit against Perez Hilton for suggesting she played a role in Lohan's DUI bust in 2007.

Garbus' team wants to query Lohan as a "critical witness," but Lohan has fought the request, filing an earlier motion saying that such a recording would inevitably be leaked, causing her "unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, undue burden and expense."

The only way she'd agree to such an interrogation is with a number of safeguards in place—something Garbus' crew says goes "far beyond [the protections] afforded to even a president of the United States when he was deposed."

"The only apparent rationale is that she is a semi-celebrity," his lawyers say in court papers, pointing out  that Lohan has no problem writing openly on her blog about her "tumultuous relationships."

Ronson also filed a motion earlier this month asking not to have her deposition taped.

A judge is expected to rule on the matter Nov. 6.