February 27, 2008

Britney Spears Case Won't Move To Federal Court

By MTV.com

After an attorney who claimed to represent Britney Spears tried to make a federal case out of her father, Jamie, taking control of Brit's affairs, a U.S. district judge decided Tuesday (February 26) that the case had no place with the feds.

Attorney Jon Eardley fought the singer's temporary conservatorship, claiming it violated her civil rights and was a misappropriation of her finances, but Judge Philip S. Gutierrez said that because the probate court had already appointed an attorney for Britney, Sam Ingham, as she was "incapable of retaining her own counsel," Eardley had "no authority" and "acted improperly."

Since Eardley did not challenge Ingham's appointment, Judge Gutierrez ruled, Eardley is not Britney's attorney and, as such, cannot remove the case, no matter what grounds. "Mr. Eardley fails to explain why he can bring this claim for her in the first instance," Gutierrez wrote. "He cannot."

However, Gutierrez did not entirely rule in the conservatorship's favor - he chose not to reward attorney fees to Jamie Spears for his law firm's time spent on the issue of removing it to federal court, which means Britney has to foot the nearly $43,000 bill.