Britney Spears‘ father has been ordered to give a deposition and answer questions about his alleged misconduct at the helm of the pop star’s now-terminated conservatorship.
A Los Angeles County judge ruled yesterday (July 13) that Jamie Spears must also produce “all documents and communications” sought by his daughter related to his alleged “electronic surveillance” of the superstar – and that his daughter is not obligated to answer her dad’s dueling request for “further” document discovery from her.
It comes after Britney previously accused her father of paying a security team to track the locations of those close to her.
It’s alleged that Jamie paid almost $6million (£4.4m) from Britney’s estate to a security firm that obtained private phone records for the singer’s mother and others, as well as GPS “ping data” to track the locations of people close to the star.
Jamie was suspended from his role as his daughter’s conservator by a judge last September, with the conservatorship then being terminated completely in November after 13 years.
The court also heard yesterday that Jamie’s lawyers had also requested to depose Britney, according to Rolling Stone.
After listening to heated arguments from both sides, Judge Penny said that she wanted further briefing on the matter before issuing a final decision at a hearing on July 27.
The pop star’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, argued that Jamie’s request to grill his daughter under oath was “immoral” and amounted to a “revenge deposition”. Rosengart also said that Jamie was fair game because “credible evidence” shows that he mismanaged Britney’s 13-year conservatorship and oversaw a surveillance program that bugged her bedroom.
He argued that Britney is not someone who has any “firsthand” knowledge of the alleged “serious misconduct”, and she would be “re-traumatised” if forced into a “retaliatory” deposition.
“Britney Spears wants to move on with her life,” Rosengart added. “She is free, and Mr Spears wants to suck her back into this conservatorship for his own improper, immoral, and, we believe, unsupportable reasons.”
But Jamie’s lawyer Alex Weingarten argued that having Britney sit for a deposition is par for the course since she is a party in the case.
Meanwhile, the pop star married Sam Asghari last month at their home in Thousand Oaks, California, with the guestlist featuring Paris Hilton, Madonna and Drew Barrymore, while Britney’s ex-husband Jason Alexander was arrested after gatecrashing the ceremony.