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K-Fed Attorney: "Not Going to Jump to Conclusions"

Mark Vincent Kaplan tells E! News his client and Britney will likely "satisfy themselves" that Jayden's hospital trip was a "freak occurrence"

By Natalie Finn, Ken Baker Nov 11, 2008 11:41 PMTags
Kevin FederlineJill Ann Spaulding/startraksphoto.com

You can call Britney Spears oh-so-many things, but "negligent" isn't necessarily one of them.

Longtime Kevin Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan exclusively tells E! News that, as far as he knows, 2-year-old Jayden James' emergency trip to the hospital was most likely the result of a food allergy—and Federline, who was immediately notified of the incident, has no plans "as of now" to seek an explanation from his ex in court.

"I think that whatever it is, a food allergy or some other case, we don't know yet," Kaplan said Tuesday. "We're pleased that someone was aware enough to see that he was having some sort of reaction and do what was necessary to make sure there were no chances taken and got Jayden to the appropriate facility and got the appropriate evaluation to be timely."

The toddler was rushed to the ER Sunday night, just two days after Britney and her dad Jamie Spears brought her two sons to Kentwood, La., their first trip out of California with their mom since Federline was awarded full custody.

While family law experts have said that Britney's current visitation arrangement could be interrupted if there is any evidence of negligence, Kaplan tells E! that he and Federline are satisfied with how the Spears family handled the emergency, saying, "We're not going to jump to conclusions right now."

"When you have kids it would be impossible for there to be some theoretical concept of negligence going on—a child falls down, anything that happens that way," Kaplan said.

"I don't anticipate there being a hearing. I anticipate that Kevin and Britney as concerned parents will exchange information and satisfy themselves that what happened was a freak occurrence and do what they have to do to make sure that it doesn¹t happen again."

"The kids will be back with Kevin shortly," he added, but "not yet."

"I don't know whether it's today or in the next couple of days."

Not that more drastic measures won't be taken if, in fact, Federline's camp turns up evidence that certain necessary preventative actions were not taken. Dad is planning to take Jayden to his pediatrician as soon as the boy returns to Los Angeles.

"If it appeared that someone knowingly—either knew or should have known there was a risk or a danger that was presented and didn't do anything to prevent that—then that may give rise to a hearing after it was first explored by the parents and addressed administratively without going to court," Kaplan said.

"You would have to agree that progress is being made and there has been no other incidents besides this incident that I'm aware of that indicates that the time that both parents have is unwarranted by the custody.
 
"Kids get hurt. Kids get sick. Kids fall down and by definition it's their duty to do things that they're not supposed to do. They're kids. Especially at 2 and 3, these things will happen.  The point is for the parents to try to minimize the possibility of these things happening.
 
"That's the important thing," Kaplan said, "that parents can control after the fact."

Jayden was discharged from Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center at about 6 p.m. Monday after spending a little more than 24 hours under a doctor's care. Spears was spotted carrying her son into a waiting SUV, which immediately took them back to her mother's Kentwood home.

"Jayden is fine," read a statement on Spears' official website. Mother and son were photographed Tuesday visiting a nearby alligator farm.

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