Denied Britney Lawyer Tries Again
He may have lost a battle, but Jon Eardley is still fighting the war.
The New York-based attorney who was already ruled to have no authority to work on Britney Spears' conservatorship case went ahead Tuesday and appealed the establishment of said conservatorship.
In documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Britney's behalf, Eardley objects to, among other things, court commissioner Reva Goetz allowing Jamie Spears and attorney Andrew Wallet to assume shared control over Britney's finances without giving the 26-year-old singer a requisite five days notice of intent.
Goetz made Jamie and Wallet temporary coconservators of Britney's estate on Feb. 1, the day after she was hospitalized for psychological evaluation at UCLA Medical Center, and then last week extended the arrangement until at least July 31.
In addition to the conservatorship as a whole, Eardley is appealing its prolongation, maintaining the Mar. 5 unscheduled hearing was "conducted in secrecy and without notice of counsel."
He's also looking to reverse Goetz's approval last week of a $2,500 weekly stipend for Jamie and $58,000 in attorney's fees for Britney's court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham—both sums that will come out of Britney's estimated $100 million fortune.
Supposedly at the behest of Britney's once-constant companion, Sam Lutfi, Eardley previously tried to get the pop star's conservatorship case transferred to federal court, arguing that the state court had trampled her civil rights by imposing her father's authority without properly investigating his concerns about Britney's welfare.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez shot down Eardley's motion on Feb. 26, ruling the attorney had failed "to explain why he can bring this claim for her in the first instance."
"Mr. Eardley had no authority to remove the case from state court," Gutierrez wrote in his decision. "He is neither a party nor a defendant. While he claims to be Ms. Spears' attorney, the probate court...found that she was incapable of retaining her own counsel."
Gutierrez did do a good turn for Eardley, however, ruling he didn't have to fork over $43,000 in compensatory attorneys' fees to Jamie Spears for engaging the conservatorship in the superfluous struggle.
In the meantime, a temporary restraining order has been keeping Lutfi at least 250 yards away from Britney and any of her property. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Monday, when the order is set to expire.
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