Giving It Up – a documentary on paparazzi

March 8, 2010

I have never been picked up by Google Alerts as an individual so I was surprised to learn that I may have been picked up last night.  WordPress bloggers beware.  I deleted a blog entry as a puff piece right after I wrote it and it got picked up by Google News?

Earlier in the day, I had been working on a story that was much more complex than estimated:  I wasn’t going to make deadline. I told our blog editor of the Puma Press and told her why.  She suggested I try to write a smaller piece of 200 words or less, maybe on Britney’s makeup or dating life.

Earlier in the day I had seen a video, that I put up with the story I aborted as puff later, and thought to share with those who curious about the paparazzi.  Meanwhile, what struck me as funny in viewing was symbolism of two companies (X17 and JFXonline) rivaling each other with each having a connection to Britney Spears; ahem, Adnan Ghalib and Sam Lutfi.
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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Court reviews Lynne Spears’ appeal, Sam Lutfi

February 28, 2010

Update March 12, Lynne Spears filed her opening brief and avoided a judge dismissing her appeal based on missing the deadline.

Update March 1, Monday: A representative for the Second District of the Court of Appeals says Lynne Spears has 15 days to respond or a default judgment will be entered and the appeal dismissed. Spears’ previously sought and was granted an extension of time to file in early December. Her notice of appeal was lodged in mid August.

Update Feb. 28 evening Sam Lutfi’s counsel is the one asking to be relieved, not Lynne Spears, based on court docs now in possession. Lutfi’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, cites “a break down in the attorney-client relationship such that counsel is no longer able to effectively represent the client.” The next hearing is set for March 8 at the Los Angeles Superior Court before Judge Zaven V. Sinanian for a status conference set previous to the court of appeals’ decision.

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The 2nd Court of Appeals in Los Angeles notified Lynne Spears on Feb. 26 that her challenge of a lower court’s ruling involving Sam Lutif has been dismissed according to online court records.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

California judge disqualified, challenge of prejudice Courtney Love gets new judge in guardianship case

February 14, 2010

Courtney Love arrives for the 2009 Elle Style Awards at Big Sky studios in north London on Feb. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan) By permission of the Puma Press.

Update: Courtney Love Cobain retweeted this story today. She offered no corrections or additional comments. Be sure to check out Misc. Court Docs. There’s a document at the top for you Love fans.

Update II: Feb. 19. Love says Judge Mitchell Beckloff recused himself but she waived it.
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A new judge has been assigned to the guardianship matter of Frances Bean Cobain and a related temporary restraining order against her mother, Courtney Love.

The case was transferred to Judge Mitchell Beckloff on Jan. 22 in Los Angeles County.

Commissioner Reva Goetz was disqualified by a California Code of Civil Procedure Section 170.6 challenge, said Liz Martinez, a public affairs office representative.

Section 170.6 provides that no judge, commissioner or referee shall try any civil or criminal matter when it is established that there is prejudice against any party, attorney or the interest of any party or attorney appearing in the action or proceeding, says the state’s Web site.

The challenge may have been based in connection to Britney and Jamie Spears.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Opinion piece: recruiting v. journalism, service

February 7, 2010

Britney Spears and a conservator's employee Feb. 8, 2008. Courtesy of Kill the Lights.

I’m in my third semester of journalism and doing a story remote from Phoenix. That’s okay. I have years of experience working across the country from a single location as a technical recruiter, staffing manager and a director.

The straw that broke the camel’s back there was the dot.com bust and a new found passion in dealing with some of the rarest of rare, software and IP network engineers: fascinating world. I could never go back to “corporate” after that and I could never work for any organization that didn’t do the best for their job candidates. That includes Google based on firsthand experience with them.

A job candidate is a special person and their experiences with a company in the interview process affect not only themselves but family, friends and community organizations. I found my job with them and members of an organization to be one of customer service and tantamount to that performance was information. The worse thing a recruiter can do is to leave a job candidate or a manager in silence. They should never have to come to you and ask what happened. Maybe that’s why I have been referred to in the past as one of the best recruiters on the planet. Customer service.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Britney Spears’ ex-boyfriend reaches conditional settlement, averts trial in civil suit against him

January 28, 2010

Courtesy of JFXonline.com Oct. 2009

A lawsuit against Adnan Ghalib, a former paparazzo and ex-boyfriend of Britney Spears, may be dismissed in spring due to a conditional settlement that was recently reached.

“We conditionally settled the case.  The case is not being dismissed until the settlement is fully performed,” says David S. Olson, attorney for plaintiff Ram Moskowitz.

Moskowitz filed a complaint in April claiming that Ghalib slammed his Mercedes into him on Feb. 11 as he was trying to serve a temporary restraining order against him pertaining to Spears’ conservatorship, say court documents.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Superior Court expects Britney Spears next Friday

January 15, 2010

Was media the real reason Spears' appearance was canceled today? Courtesy, Kill the Lights.

Britney Spears is ordered to appear in court this coming Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. says Liz Martinez, a representative from the public affairs office at the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Spears was expected in court today but her appearance was unexpectedly canceled.

Tabloid site TMZ, the first to report the cancellation, says the commissioner and others were concerned about the media.

Spears faces the beginning of her third year under the conservatorship of her person solely by her father effective Monday, Feb. 1. Her estate has been under a co-conservatorship of her father and privately retained attorney Andrew Wallet.

Many across the blogosphere had thought she would freed once her Circus tour concluded as certain tabloids had promoted the idea that the continued arrangement was necessary due to insurance.

Spears has gained visitation-only privileges with her children since the conservatorship began. Kevin Federline, ex-husband, retains sole custody.

Next Friday will mark Spears’ second court appearance since the conservatorship began.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Los Angeles court orders Britney Spears to appear

January 15, 2010

Britney and her children at the Hotel Mondrian on Jan. 13 courtesy of Kill the Lights

TMZ reported earlier today that Britney Spears is expected to appear in court.

A spokesperson (Liz) from the Superior Court of Los Angeles just confirmed to Fair News Spears that Spears was ordered to appear in court today. The spokesperson said she didn’t know whether Spears would show or not nor what prompted the order.

Regularly scheduled hearings on accounting matters were scheduled for yesterday and a motion to seal documents was expected to occur this morning.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

Media omits lawyer and judge relationships between Britney and Jamie Spears, and Courtney Love Cobain

December 19, 2009

Hi, this is still a blog right?  Happy holidays then.

I wrote the following comment on Courtney Love Cobain’s Facebook wall.  There had been some confusion there between her fans and those who follow Britney Spears.  I thought about it later and realized that not all readers may know about the twist in the case of Courtney losing legal control over her daughter and later also receiving a temporary restraining order.

Suffice. The lawyers involved in Courtney’s case are the same lawyers who work for Jamie Spears and the conservatorship. The judge is also the same as documents from TMZ reveal.

On to the post:

I have a few more minutes here and then I am going outside, but I thought to explain to those unfamiliar with Britney Spears’ conservatorship case who some of the players are. If you open the documents through the TMZ link posted two hours ago, you will see attorneys Geraldine Wyle, Jeryll S. Cohen, and the Hon. Reva Goetz.

Google any of those names plus Spears and conservatorship and you are sure to find them in connection. Wyle and Cohen both work for Jamie Spears and I believe they were involved from the beginning of the conservatorship in Feb. 2008.

TMZ knows that as does the AP and any other news organization that covers courtroom news or celebrity gossip but none of them are saying it. TMZ only shows the document that is six pages but they do not help readers make the connection back to Jamie Spears and the conservatorship. One clearly also sees the Hon. Reva Goetz. She’s the one who ruled on Feb. 4, 2008 that based on the court appointed attorney’s meeting with Britney at UCLA that she did not understand legal proceedings and lacked capacity to hire her own lawyer. A simple search of journalist Linda Deutsch and capacity should bring up all that drama that also involved Adam Streisand who is now working with the Jackson family. … See More

I do believe that the connection between Courtney Love Cobain and Jamie Spears is fascinating and that it was irresponsible for the media to omit it (hide? conceal?) and distract us instead with tales of clothing designers and lawsuits based on Twitter. And. That they continue to. I don’t know if Courtney will keep any of this info up but hopefully at least some of you will see what is happening and be less confused. Happy holidays.
23 minutes ago

Author’s note: I posted this and other information more specific to Courtney’s case and media treatment on her Facebook account, if interested. She is listed under Courtney Love Cobain and if you follow her as a fan you may learn more of her story and how strangely it is connected back to Britney Spears. For those who don’t know, Courtney claimed over the Thanksgiving holiday that Jamie molested his daughter.

Lou Taylor, a Spears’ family spokesperson has not directly refuted the claim. Instead she was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying, “”We’re not commenting on Courtney Love, or any aliens who might come to Earth to impregnate people.”

Courtney responded, after seeing the story on her Facebook account, “I went to Sting and Trudys “Twin Spirits” wonderful Schullman letters event and sat with my dearest friend Stipe (Michael) tonight, not that the names matter, but I didn’t see ONE alien impregnating ANYONE!” (some punctuation added by Fair News Spears.)

Update: More of Love Cobain’s side of the story.  Like Britney and the imposed conservatorship no prior notice was given to Courtney Love as Wyle took action to remove her daughter from her life.  http://www.spinner.com/2009/12/22/courtney-love-planned-christmas-for-daughter-before-custody-hear/

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

New filing appears in Los Angeles Superior Court

December 12, 2009

Britney Spears asks paparazzi to please shut off their cameras in Santa Barbara. Courtesy of Kill the Lights, Dec 2009.

Joy is what I would feel to learn that a new filing at the Los Angeles Superior Court might mean that Britney Spears will be free.

Here is the filing:

12/10/2009 Notice-Hearing Consorshp/Guardshp (sic)
Filed by Attorney for Petitioner

But where is a motion to terminate the conservatorship? Or motion to terminate anything… Who is the petitioner in this case? (there are currently nine listed in the case file and they include Jon Eardley) Who is the attorney? Will the previously scheduled hearing on Dec. 22, 2009 make way for matters of more public interest than expenses?

Since the permanent conservatorship of Spears and her cash, there haven’t been any regularly scheduled hearings regarding the conservatorship save an August review that was scheduled in January. That hearing was scheduled solely to ascertain whether Clay Townsend, an attorney, could depose her in a Florida case. That case abruptly settled before the hearing could take place.

I don’t have answers yet but what would it have meant if Spears had been found eligible to testify?

Meanwhile, I’m not getting my hopes up but it is healthy to see some activity in front of the judge beyond money issues. Maybe recent publicity reports through fan sites such as Breatheheavy.com, and Britney Addiction, Dream of Britney and even a Britney Spears fan site in China that carried the report that I wrote that challenged TMZ’s claims spurred some concrete action?

Maybe Courtney Love’s accusations over the Thanksgiving holiday as to Jamie’s prior molestation of his daughter he now has control of (right down to the sex and dating) spurred action?

If Britney had been designated as capable of testifying in the Florida case that disappeared through settlement… what’s this girl got to say for anyone to fear?

Or maybe TMZ did have an inside lead, but the thing is I don’t trust them. See earlier stories to learn why.

Click here to see what a Notice of Hearing is.

Update: Further information has not become available as of Dec. 18, 2009.

Update two: From the Los Angeles Superior Court online case summary: 12/17/2009 MOTION – SEAL COURT RECORDS filed. New hearing set for Jan. 15, 2010 at 10:00 am in department 9 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 regarding a motion to seal court records. The previously scheduled hearing for Dec. 22 remains on calendar. Today is Dec. 19, 2009.

Britney Spears is now out of town and in New York with Jason Trawick say various celebrity news sites.  I guess she is not needed in court or she’s only in NY for a very short stay.

The end of the year is coming and there’s still nothing happening at the courthouse to support claims that Britney will soon be free “…possibly by the end of December” as said by TMZ.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

TMZ’s Harvey Levin rotates celebrity machine again Says Britney Spears’ conservatorship to end soon

December 7, 2009

TMZ delivered a message to the public over the weekend that isn’t rooted in anything happening at the courthouse in Los Angeles and it’s not the first time.

The celebrity news site has made it seem that attorneys are meeting so that Spears could be released from the conservatorhip she is under but none of TMZ’s stories have been based on courtroom fact. Last week TMZ said that attorneys in the case were in the courtroom “right now” talking about ending the conservatorship but that wasn’t quite true. According to the court’s online records last week’s hearing was related to scheduled accounting matters.

No motions have been made and no documents have been filed to indicate that the conservatorship is coming to an end soon.

“If there is a motion to terminate there would a document on file. There isn’t any,” says Vania Stuelp today.

Stuelp also says that if there were proceedings going on to terminate the conservatorship that she would expect to be notified.

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Posted by Carmela Kelly

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