Britney Spears’ Dad Asks Appeals Court to Let Him Depose Her to ‘Defend Himself’
If his daughter is going to make "serious allegations of personal wrongdoing," Jamie Spears argues he has a due process right to seek more information.
Britney Spears’ father has filed an appeal after a judge refused to let his attorneys depose his daughter, arguing he has a “fundamental right” to defend himself against her “serious allegations of personal wrongdoing.”
In a petition on Friday (Sept. 9) to a California appeals court, Jamie Spears said he must be able to access more information to defend against a slew of accusations his daughter has made, including that he planted “illicit bugging devices” to spy on her, abused his role as her conservator and potentially violated federal laws.
In July, a Los Angeles judge refused Jamie’s requests – not only to depose Britney but for more evidence from Sherine Ebadi, a former FBI agent and forensic investigator who filed a detailed declaration supporting Britney’s accusations.
In Friday’s petition, Jamie said those decisions were clearly wrong and had violated his constitutional right to due process.
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“Jamie has a fundamental right to discovery from Britney and Ebadi — both of whom accused him of serious misconduct in publicly filed documents — so that he can … properly defend himself,” Jamie’s attorneys wrote.
“Each of the probate court’s discovery rulings is legally erroneous and an abuse of discretion in itself,” they added. “But the cumulative effect of the rulings was even worse: the court denied Jamie access to any meaningful discovery necessary to defend himself against allegations of wrongdoing, and thus it denied him due process.”
Britney’s long conservatorship formally ended in November, but that was hardly the end of the legal wrangling. Her attorney Mathew Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor, has vowed to investigate alleged misconduct by Jamie during his years as conservator, including allegations that he took millions from the estate and tried to control her with drugs.
Amid that litigation, both Britney and Jamie moved to take the other’s deposition. In July, Judge Brenda Penny granted Rosengart’s demand that Jamie sit for a deposition, but rejected the similar demand from Jamie’s lawyers for a sit-down with Britney. The judge also granted Britney the right to secure additional documentary materials, but largely denied the same to Jamie.
In Friday’s appeal, Jamie’s lawyers said that outcome was manifestly unfair. They argued there was “no doubt that Britney and Ebadi possess relevant, discoverable evidence concerning their many factual allegations against Jamie,” but that the info had been withheld without good reason – or really much explanation at all.
They said the Britney deposition, for instance, should only have been denied if her lawyers could show “good cause” for protecting her from it, but that they had clearly not done so.
“Here, the court did not mention this standard, let alone find that Britney had met it,” his lawyers wrote. “Instead, the court ruled that Jamie could get the same information through ‘written discovery’ — and then it denied nearly all his requested written discovery, too.”
In response to Jamie’s appellate petition, Rosengart told Billboard: “The Court’s rulings were thoughtful, thorough, and legally correct. Rather than spending additional time and money focusing on taking his daughter’s deposition, Mr. Spears would be better served if he accepted his losses in court and let his daughter enjoy her life and freedom.”
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