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Britney License Trial Hits Red Light

Fri., Jan. 25, 2008 1:24 PM PST by Gina Serpe

Another day, another legal delay for Britney Spears.

One of the trouble-plagued singer's battery of lawyers has succeeded yet again in postponing Spears' long-in-the-works trial for driving without a valid license, an infraction that came to light last August, during a fender-bending hit-and-run.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman granted what he stressed would be the final delay in the case Friday, after Spears' attorney Michael Flanagan and prosecutor Michael Amerian told the court they needed more time to come to a consensus on which law was broken by the lack of license.

Spears had not been issued a California license at the time of her run-in, although she did have a valid one from her native Louisiana. Flanagan said Spears didn't bother getting DMV certified in Cali because the 26-year-old still owns two homes in the Pelican State.

Outside court, Flanagan agreed that California law requires those "domiciled" in the state to obtain a local license and said Spears complied with the law by scoring one within a week of the charge being filed against her.

"There's no dispute about the facts here," he said. "The dispute is about what the law is that's appropriate to the facts."

Herman gave both sides until Feb. 20 to figure it out, otherwise the case would go before a jury.

"It's this court's intention to force both sides to go to trial within 30 days of that date," the judge said.

Last August, Spears was caught bumping into a parked vehicle while maneuvering her Mercedes Benz out of a lot. Though she did briefly get out of her car to survey the damage, the Blackout artist ultimately took off without leaving a note or insurance information. Unfortunately for her, the entire incident was caught by several paparazzi who were trailing her at the time.

The owner of the vehicle subsequently filed a police report and, in September, Spears was charged with misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run and driving without a valid license. The hit-and-run charges were dismissed in October, after Spears reached an out-of-court settlement with the car's owner. The same month, Spears was issued an interim driver's license by the state of California.

Spears' lack of a valid license was also one of the reasons initially cited by the commissioner overseeing her custody case for stripping her of physical custody of her children. (Spears' custody privileges were eventually restored, only to be stripped down to monitored visits and then taken away completely following other, well-documented transgressions.)

Both sides are due back in court Feb. 20, but because the charge is a misdemeanor, Spears is not required to appear.

Spears also remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department over a claim that the steering-challenged star ran over the foot of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy while fleeing a custody hearing in late October. Back in November, the LAPD demanded Spears provide a statement of the run-in or face another possible misdemeanor count.

Meanwhile, the star's other set of attorneys, those in her ongoing custody case, are due back in court Feb. 4. Whether Spears will show—or stay—for that hearing is anyone's guess.