- A judge on Wednesday ruled that Britney Spears will not have to be deposed by her dad's legal team.
- The ruling comes two weeks after Jamie Spears was ordered to sit for questioning by Britney's lawyer.
Attorneys for Britney Spears and Jamie Spears were back in court this week, continuing to duke it out over a slew of remaining legal questions stemming from the pop star's 13-year conservatorship.
Judge Brenda Penny on Wednesday ruled that Britney Spears will not have to sit for questioning from Jamie Spears's team in a major win for the singer. Her father's legal team had previously requested that she be deposed, but the judge determined it would be unlikely to produce relevant, first-hand information related to ongoing petitions in the case.
The decision comes two weeks after Penny ruled that by mid-August, Jamie Spears himself must sit for questioning related to claims that he electronically surveilled his daughter and siphoned millions from her estate. Jamie Spears' lawyers denied the claims in a January hearing.
Britney Spears from 2008 to 2021 was placed under a conservatorship that granted a group of people, including Jamie Spears, control over her personal, medical, and financial decisions. Although the contentious arrangement is over, there are still financial details that are being worked out in court, including who should pay for the attorneys retained during the conservatorship.
Alex Weingarten, an attorney for Jamie, said in court on Wednesday that Jamie Spears "did right by his daughter."
"The truth will come out and he will be vindicated," Weingarten said of Jamie Spears. "He did this for – not to – her, to protect her from Rasputins and Svengalis."
Jamie Spears has long argued that he took control of his daughter's life in order to protect her physical, emotional, mental, and financial health. But in the months since the conservatorship was ended, Britney has railed against the arrangement, accusing her father of a slew of abuses, which he has denied.
The singer's attorney Matthew Rosengart previously said that Jamie Spears's upcoming deposition will focus on allegations that he recorded Britney Spears in her home for over 180 hours, conflict of interest claims, and his profits of over $6 million from his daughter's career.
"Whether Jamie Spears accepts it or not, Britney Spears feels traumatized by what she went through," Rosengart told the court. "He is free to believe that his flesh and blood is lying."
During the Wednesday hearing, the lawyers also bickered over a ruling that would have provided Jamie Spears's legal team with his daughter's home address.
The singer's team opposed the ruling, arguing that it was irrelevant and an "intrusion of privacy," especially in the aftermath of a stalking incident at Britney's June wedding, during which her ex-husband of 55 hours, Jason Alexander, attempted to crash her wedding carrying a knife.
Jamie Spears's team had argued that they needed the address after alleging that Britney's counsel was signing documents on her behalf while she was out of town.
On Wednesday, Judge Penny ruled that Jamie Spears' team could not seek the deposition of former FBI agent Sherine Ebadi, who now works at security firm Kroll Inc. and who corroborated the claims made by a Black Box whistleblower.
Penny also made a tentative ruling that Spears's former business manager Lou Taylor as well as an associate at Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, could be deposed on files related to electronic surveillance of the pop star and from their accounting relevant to Jamie and Britney Spears between 2019 and 2021.
Scott Edelman, an attorney for Tri Star, told Insider that the their team "look forward to being deposed."
"Judge Penny's tentative ruling was clear – discovery is going to be restricted to events and fees relevant to the 12th Accounting, just as Tri Star had requested," Edelman said. "In short, today was a great day for Tri Star – whatever Ms. Spears's counsel may have tried to spin on the courthouse steps. We look forward to being deposed, advancing this process and ensuring that the full truth is finally shared."
Outside of the courthouse, Weingarten signaled that they would appeal the decision against deposing Britney Spears.
Rosengart said the hearing was "excellent" for Britney Spears, and that she "just wants to move on with her life."
"The notion of her father, or any father, wanting to take a harassing deposition of their daughter is morally abominable," Rosengart told reporters.