Britney Spears will not have to sit for a deposition in her conservatorship case, a Los Angeles judge ruled Wednesday.
via Page Six:
Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said in court that the pop star “feels traumatized by what she went through” and that answering questions under oath from her estranged father Jamie Spears’ lawyer, Alex Weingarten, would “retraumatize” her.
Weingarten said he plans to appeal the decision, telling Judge Brenda Penny that Jamie “is proud and will remain proud of what he did for, not to, his daughter” while serving as her conservator from the legal arrangement’s inception in February 2008 until his suspension in September 2021.
Rosengart and Weingarten had been trying for months to depose each other’s clients after Britney, 40, described her conservatorship as “abusive”during an impassioned public court speech in June 2021.
Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor, has claimed that Jamie, 70, enriched himself with at least $6 million from Britney’s estate.
Jamie has also been accused of spying on Britney by secretly monitoring her cellphoneand placing an audio recording device in her bedroom, the latter of which he denied doing.
Weingarten countered that Britney was the one who should have been deposed given she has made damning allegations about her dad in court and on social media.
But, as Rosengart pointed out, Britney had little to no information to share after being stripped of her personal, medical and financial rights during her nearly 14-year conservatorship, which was established after she endured a series of struggles in the public eye.
“She wants to move on with her life, and yet, that man, her father, her flesh and blood, does not want that,” Rosengart told reporters outside the courthouse Wednesday. “The notion of her father — or any father — wanting to take a harassing deposition of their daughter … is morally abominable.”
Britney, whose conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, scored another legal win earlier this month when Penny ordered Jamie to sit for a deposition by Aug. 12 and turn over all documents in his possession. (Weingarten said Wednesday that a date has been chosen but did not share it in court.)
During Wednesday’s hearing, the judge issued a tentative ruling that Britney’s former business manager Lou Taylor and her Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group associate Robin Greenhill will also be deposed and have to hand over paperwork related to electronic surveillance.
Tri Star’s attorney Scott Edelman said in a statement to Page Six after the hearing that “today was a great day” for the firm, adding, “We look forward to being deposed, advancing this process and ensuring that the full truth is finally shared.”
Rosengart previously claimed that Tri Star reaped at least $18 million from Britney during the “Toxic” singer’s conservatorship.
Britney (and the public) deserves the truth. Jamie can’t run forever!
