Update: Herman Cain suspending his campaign should surprise no one given his history of bad decision making
While Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain, gained Secret Service protection this month, his error in hiring as his campaign security director, Kristian Otto Herzog, an ex-con with an addiction to publicity and to celebrities, may be a more serious gaffe than has previously been reported.
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“You shouldn’t believe something just because a lawyer wrote it down,” says Kevin Federline’s family lawyer as a tip to the paparazzi.
That said, Sam Lutfi offers his most recent allegations against Britney Spears and her family in pursuit of records he believes will support his case against Jamie, Lynne and Britney Spears.
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Continued from Part I – an in-depth report on California’s new law aimed at aggressive paparazzi who threaten public safety. This is the original content in the first of a series to see what if anything may change for celebrities and the paparazzi.
Britney Spears performs on ABC's "Good Morning America" show in San Francisco on Sunday, March 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
Private investigators lead enforcement
Private investigators will play a significant role in enforcing AB 2479 come Jan. 1.
Paparazzi crowd Britney Spears and her security on a sidewalk.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new bill into law that will make it easier for the Britney Spears’ security team, and those of other celebrities, to protect them and prosecute over aggressive paparazzi.
Assembly Bill 2479 makes it a criminal act to willfully follow another vehicle too closely or commit reckless driving in pursuit of “any visual image, sound recording or other physical impression of another person for a commercial purpose. “ It also makes surrounding a celebrity or a celebrity’s vehicle in a manner that prevents escape illegal and punishable with fines and imprisonment.
Press secretary Sam Katzen, who represents Assembly Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass, the person who created the bill, confirms it is the first criminal “anti-paparazzi” law enacted in California.
An Assembly analysis from earlier this year reports that California began enacting laws to rein in aggressive and overzealous paparazzi in 1998 in the wake of Princess Diana’s death. The analysis suggests that despite those laws, the Assembly continues to hear reports on “increasing tension between celebrities and photographers, which at times has escalated to the point of physical confrontations.”
Jesse Martell, a Los Angeles-based private investigator who has been involved with the Spears’ camp in attempting to serve her ex-boyfriend and paparazzo with restraining order papers, has direct experience with some paparazzis’driving tactics.
Blair Berk, former attorney of Lindsay Lohan arrives at a Los Angeles courthouse to defend Lindsay Lohan, Aug. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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I’m curious. Blair Berk is a heavyweight (not fat) attorney based in Los Angeles yet two media outlets kept her name out of the media this weekend.
TMZ reported yesterday that Samuel Barth filed for a protective order against Sam Lutfi yet said nothing about Berk who filed papers on Barth’s behalf.
Radaronline, lesser known than TMZ but proven in courtroom reporting, likewise omitted Berk from their story on Lutfi and Barth. They claimed today the FBI is investigating Lutfi but no mention of the intriguing relationships between Berk, Lutfi and Barth.
I‘m short on time, but I wanted to tell you about another twist in the story involving Courtney Love Cobain and Britney Spears.
Courtney Love performs at a private concert in the Hiro Ballroom at The Maritime Hotel on July 12, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) Permission by the Puma Press.
There is so much more going on than that and I will be revealing that in what I hope is a front page article on the Puma Press. That’s the name of the newspaper at the community college where I pursuing journalism as a second career.
Suffice for now, Love is well represented in the guardianship case by none other than Anne Kiley and Mary Dinius White of the law firm Trope and Trope in conjunction with related money matters involving the Pryor Cashman law firm.
You might remember Anne Kiley during the time she represented Britney Spears in her custody case with Kevin Federline. You might also remember that when the conservatorship of Spears began in early 2008 that Jamie Spears axed Trope and Trope early on.
You might further recall that it was Trope and Trope who referred Adam Streisand to Britney when she was trying to get out of the conservatorship in February 2008?
That’s all I have for you right now but there is so much more coming such as the possible removal of Geraldine Wyle from the case. Do you all remember Wyle from a previous article I wrote about the disqualification of a judge by Love in the guardianship case?
No sense in staying tuned. I would never lead you along and I hope the details I am to provide in a very big story (to my mind) will have been worth the wait. Thank you.
p.s. I got to finish cleaning the house, run to Whole Foods (company is coming!), make spaghetti and meatballs and relax with friends over to play Euchre and listen to music. Yeh, baby.
UPDATE: To be fair, Trope and Trope filed a motion to be relieved as counsel on Jan. 2, 2008, says the case summary. They filed a declaration in support on Feb. 8. Jamie Spears did not oppose. Sorry I was writing at a clip.
Britney Spears made her second court appearance in two years in her conservatorship case on Jan. 22. It was her third court appearance since late 2007. This illustration was provided by the permission of Mona Shafer Edwards at www.monaedwards.com. The image is by the courtesy of www.killthelights.org.
Britney Spears is not required or expected to be at a status hearing in the conservatorship scheduled for Tuesday, said Liz Martinez of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s public affairs office on Friday. I am telling you due to rumors I’ve been hearing.
Even if she were to be there, I wouldn’t trust the media to tell me what really happened.
On Jan. 22, headlines buried the significance of a Spears appearance: it was only the second time in two years of being under a conservatorship by her father that she met with Commissioner Reva Goetz.
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.
Britney Spears and a conservator's employee Feb. 8, 2008. Courtesy of Kill the Lights.
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.
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.
