Federal Court Denies Britney
Britney Spears remains Superior.
A federal judge sent the troubled pop star's conservatorship case back to probate court Tuesday, rejecting a claim by Britney's questionably hired attorney that the local system's decision to temporarily place dad Jamie Spears in charge of her affairs had violated her civil rights. (View the court documents.)
And, like Jamie and coconservator Andrew Wallet, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez didn't feel that New York-based attorney Jon Eardley had the right to be filing motions on Spears' behalf.
"Mr. Eardley fails to explain why he can bring this claim for her in the first instance. He cannot," Gutierrez wrote in a three-page ruling. "Mr. Eardley had no authority to remove the case from state court. He is neither a party nor a defendant. While he claims to be Ms. Spears's attorney, the probate court...found that she was incapable of retaining her own counsel."
Gutierrez also denied a motion filed by Jamie Spears' camp Monday demanding $43,000 in attorneys' fees from Eardley to compensate for the extra court time.
L.A. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz said last week that Britney's case was "in a holding pattern" until the federal judge issued a decision. She also refused to review any documents filed in U.S. District Court, saying she wanted to "keep the line of demarcation clear so no one thinks I'm overstepping my bounds."
Eardley argued in court documents filed Friday that Britney retained him on Feb. 12, before her phone was taken away and her line disconnected.
But Goetz determined nearly two weeks beforehand that Britney wasn't capable of hiring her own counsel. The "Toxic" songstress had tried to retain Century City legal eagle Adam Streisand to fight the conservatorship while she was still under observation at UCLA Medical Center, but the lawyer said upon her release that he was unable to take the case.
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