What we have here is a failure to communicate.That’s the reason the attorneys who have been representing Britney Spears in her ongoing custody case are asking to be relieved as her counsel, according to court documents filed Wednesday.”There has been a breakdown in communications between Petitioner and Trope & Trope making further representation of her interests impossible,” reads the motion filed on behalf of the pop star’s main legal man, Sorrell Trope. No further explanation for the requested split was given, but it reportedly happened to occur on the same day Spears missed her latest appointment to be deposed by Kevin Federline’s legal camp, a sit-down that’s been in the works for some time.She missed her last scheduled appearance Dec. 12, blaming anxiety and physical illness. In a subsequent emergency hearing, K-Fed attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, armed with photographic evidence, noted to the court commissioner overseeing the custody case that Spears apparently was doing well enough to go out later that night. ”It’s not fourth grade, where you get a doctor’s note and it’s all okay,” Kaplan told People last weekend, adding that he was looking to get Spears’ deposition underway in early 2008.
Trope’s firm has been on Spears’ side since she parted ways with attorney Laura Wasser in September. But the Beverly Hills-based family laywer toldPeople he hasn’t yet joined the club of Spears’ ex-attorneys. He has to wait and see what the judge says first.”A lawyer cannot simply withdraw from a case,” Trope said. “We will ask the court to relieve us, which will be heard within a month’s time.” Meanwhile, the papers informing his soon-to-be ex-client of his decision are in the mail, according to the motion filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.It’s unclear how this shakeup will affect the custody proceedings. Kaplan could not yet be reached for comment. In other legal news, Spears’ trial on a misdemeanor vehicle infraction has been postponed until Jan. 25, but as far as we know, the “Toxic” singer still has counsel lined up to represent her during those proceedings.
Brandy can breathe a little easier now.
In a belated holiday gift, prosecutors in Los Angeles have decided not to file a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge against the R&B songstress for last year’s chain-reaction car crash that resulted in a woman’s death.
According to a statement from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, authorities opted not to proceed with a criminal case after a probe found “insufficient evidence” that Brandy, whose last name Norwood, was to blame.
“After conducting a thorough investigation, which included consulting with some of the top accident reconstruction experts in the country, city prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence from which a jury could find Ms. Norwood guilty of such a charge beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors said.
The fatal collision occurred on Dec. 30, 2006, when the Grammy-winning ex-Moesha star slammed her 2007 Land Rover into the back of a 2005 Toyota Corolla at 65 mph, setting off a four car pile-up.
The driver of the Toyota, 38-year-old Awatif Aboudihaj, careened into the highway’s center divider before being broadsided by another car. After suffering multiple pelvic fractures, the wife and mother of two died the following evening in the hospital.
Weeks later, once news of the accident became public, Brandy issued a statement through her publicist in which she “express[ed] her condolences to the family of the deceased” and called it a “terrible tragedy.”
After investigating the crash scene and testing Brandy’s sport utility vehicle for any mechanical defects, the California Highway Patrol eventually recommended a misdemeanor manslaughter charge be filed against her, saying negligence was responsible for the accident.
A guilty conviction could have netted the 28-year-old entertainer anywhere from a year in jail and a $1,000 fine to house arrest or a work-furlough program.
Brandy’s attorney, Blair Berk, said the performer was grateful for the prosecutors’ decision.
“We are extremely pleased that after a more thorough and extensive investigation by the authorities, the Los Angeles City Attorney has determined that Brandy Norwood should not be charged with any crime whatsoever relating to the traffic accident,” she said.
“These past 12 months have been extraordinarily hard for Brandy and her family, who were unfairly forced to live under a cloud of suspicion initially caused by an ill-advised and premature press release sent out by the California Highway Patrol, accusing Brandy of wrongdoing before the police investigation was even finished,” Berk continued.
“However, Brandy continues to be mindful that she was extremely fortunate not to have been injured in this accident and that there was a life lost.”
But Brandy’s ordeal isn’t over by a longshot. She must now sweat out three civil suits launched by the victim’s families.
The first is a wrongful-death complaint filed in January by Aboudihaj’s parents holding the singer-actress directly responsible for “driving recklessly” and seeking $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
The second was filed on behalf of the victim’s two children, 15-year-old Mrwan Mohammed and 11-year-old Kareem Mohammed, who were with their mother in the car when the crash took place and suffered injuries their attorney said will cause them permanent damage.
Then there’s Aboudihaj’s widower, Maroune Hdidou, who claimed Brandy was driving “too fast for conditions” and “following too closely” and sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the loss of his spouse.
In May, Brandy launched her own legal salvo against one of the motorists involved in the pile-up, accusing 50-year-old Simi Valley resident Mallory Ham of negligence and blaming her for causing the accident.
The action came in response to Ham—who’s also named as a defendant in Hdidou’s suit—suing the erstwhile America’s Got Talent judge for negligence and vehicular damage.
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The Los Angeles County coroner’s office was scheduled to conduct an autopsy Wednesday on Donda West, mother and manager of hip-hop star Kanye West, amid reports that she died of complications from cosmetic surgery.
A statement issued by the family late Monday offered no details about how West died, but the coroner’s office cited a recent surgical procedure as a possible cause. A California surgeon said through a spokeswoman that he had declined to perform cosmetic surgery on West months ago because she had a pre-existing condition.
West, 58, who stopped breathing at her home in Los Angeles on Saturday, was brought to the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Marina del Rey by paramedics, hospital spokeswoman Cyndee Woelfle told the Tribune. Woelfle said it was her understanding that West had had some cosmetic surgery, and that her “problems were a result of the surgery but it was not done at this hospital.”
On Monday, Patricia Green, a publicist for Donda West, told news media she understood West had undergone cosmetic surgery; later, Green backed away from that statement.
