In a surprise announcement Friday afternoon, Commissioner Reva Goetz announced that the case regarding the conservatorship of singer Britney Spears is now "in a holding pattern," because it is now in the hands of federal court judge to decide who has jurisdiction over these matters.
On Feb. 14, a lawyer named John Eardley filed papers with the court claiming that the current state of the conservatorship, which is managed by Brit's dad Jamie Spears and court-appointed attorney Andrew Wallet, violates the pop star's constitutional rights and that both the conservatorship case and her ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline should be moved into the jurisdiction of a federal court.
On Tuesday, the commissioner in the custody case said earlier this week that that case would stay put and the same decision was expected to come out of Commissioner Goetz's courtroom today. However, everyone must now wait until Feb. 25, when a federal court will hear the motion and decide whether it should become a federal case or be remanded back to Commissioner Goetz.
Should the case not become a federal matter, the next hearing is scheduled for March 10, where the topic of extending — or possibly making permanent — the conservatorship will be discussed.
Source: OK!
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In the latest hearing today regarding Britney Spears' conservatorship, the judge stated that the case is now in a "holding pattern," because it is currently in the hands of the federal court.
Federal court judge Gutierrez is expected to rule next week on whether the conservatorship should be moved to federal court. There will be no hearing and it is expected that the request, to be filed today by Britney's advocate Jon Eardley, will be denied. The case will thus be returned to superior court. Even so, Jamie Spears, Britney's father and conservator, has until Monday to respond to the request.
It was also noted that Sam Lutfi has finally been served with his temporary restraining order, which the judge extended to March 17, when Sam is expected to appear in court.
Source: breatheheavy.com
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Bottom line: at 6pm yesterday, a federal judge agreed that the case be moved to district court. Therefore, Commissioner Goetz today couldn't rule on any thing until the case, if the case, gets remanded/sent back to state court.
However, despite Lutfi not being served by the Wednesday deadline, the restraining order is valid because Jamie Spears went to federal court yesterday and was granted an extension of restraining order until March 17, and therefore lutfi was served in time for that March 17 deadline.
On February 25, the federal judge will review arguments from both Jamie Spears and Jon Eardley to decide if Eardly showed good cause to keep the case with the federal court. Jamie will argue that because Britney was found "to lack the capacity to retain counsel on February 6," Eardley can't legally say he's Britney's lawyer.
Meanwhile Commissioner Goetz said: "We are in a holding pattern until the district court decides which jurisdiction should continue with the case."
When Geraldine Wyle (an attorney recently retained by Jamie Spears for his conservatorship) offered her all of the federal filings, she said: "You keep them. I want to keep the line of demarcation clear so no one thinks I'm over stepping my bounds....for now, we are in a holding pattern till the distrcit court rules on February 25."
Wyle stated that they do not want this case remanded to the feds because "the federal process doesn't really suit a conservatorship."
In response to serving Lutfi after the 48 hour deadline, instead serving him only 21.5 hours before the deadline of court today at 1:30pm, Wyle said this: "Despite our very best efforts - and I mean our very best - Mr. Lutfi did not surface until after the deadline clearly passed."
Addressing Eardly's claim to move the case to the feds, Jeffrey Wexler (of the Luce Forward firm, with Wyle) said: "Since the February 6 ruling form this court stated that Ms. Spears lacks the capacity to retain counsel, that means Mr. Eardley can't file a removal [from state court] on her behalf" because he's not legally her lawyer.
Source: breatheheavy.com
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