pagesix.com/2022/08/05/britney-spears-slams-dads-attempt-to-unseal-medical-records/Britney Spears: Dad Jamie’s attempt to unseal medical records is ‘revenge’
Britney Spears claimed in a new court filing that her father, Jamie Spears, is looking to unseal her medical records for “revenge” and “vindication.”
The pop star’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, argued in a motion filed Monday that Jamie, 70, had “sunk to a new low” with yet another “regrettable — and mean-spirited — attempt to bully, harass and intimidate his own daughter,” per documents obtained by Page Six exclusively.
On July 22, the suspended conservator‘s lawyer, Alex Weingarten, argued in a motion that Britney, 40, should be deposed and included some of the Grammy winner’s previously unsealed medical records as exhibits.
However, Weingarten tells Page Six that “there is no part of this that is an effort to leak records to the public.”
He explains, “There is a procedure that you must follow to file documents under seal of the court, and that is the procedure we followed.”
When pushed on whether the previously sealed documents that were included as exhibits could eventually be unsealed, Weingarten tells us his team is “attempting to negotiate” for a “protective order governing the use of confidential information.”
“What would happen, if we ever get the deposition and there were ever legitimately confidential information, then it would be shielded from public view,” he adds.
Despite Weingarten saying his filing was routine procedure, Rosengart pointed to the date of Jamie’s lawyers filing as a telling sign of the Spears patriarch’s alleged motives.
The July 22 motion was submitted less than two weeks after a judge ruled in Britney’s favor to have her dad deposed. (The judge later said the “Toxic” singer will not have to sit for her own deposition.)
“By then, Mr. Spears was well-aware that this court had issued a tentative ruling on July 13, 2022, to deny his motion and knew very well that this court would resolve the issue of Ms. Spears’ deposition on July 27, 2022,” Rosengart stated.
He added, “Consequently, Mr. Spears can have no purpose in seeking to render the conditionally sealed materials public other than undertaking his purported ‘vindication’ and revenge plot against his own daughter. It is shameful.”
Weingarten argues, however, that his team “filed the briefing requested by the Court on the deadline provided by the Court.”
“The idea that this is part of a nefarious scheme is ridiculous,” the Managing Partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, added.
“It is unfortunate that Britney’s counsel continues his relentless barrage of ad hominem attacks against Jamie. It is presumably because he doesn’t have any actual evidence but regardless, it is unwarranted and unprofessional.”
Despite Weingarten’s statement that Britney’s team doesn’t have any “actual evidence,” an FBI agent corroborated a claim in January that Jamie spied on his daughter, had conflicts of interest and financial mismanagement while he was her conservator.
Rosengart also argued in the motion that Britney’s private records are protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), which are laws that protect the confidentiality of individually identifiable medical information.
The Los Angeles-based attorney also pointed out that Jamie and his prior counsel had moved to seal Britney’s records in the first place when he was conservator from 2008 to 2021.
He then noted that Britney’s records must remain under seal through at least Oct. 26, 2022, when a hearing date on the matter is scheduled.
Rosengart concluded by giving insight into Britney’s true feelings on her father’s attempts, saying, “His own wonderful, iconic daughter is now free and wants to move on with her life. That should be all that matters. That is all that would matter to a decent, loving father. … He should stop abusing the process. He should stop harassing and bullying his daughter. And he should move on.”
Weingarten first asked Judge Brenda Penny to unseal the records at a hearing in January, declaring that the “public has the right to know” more context about the “Overprotected” singer’s case, People reported at the time.
Outside of the courtroom that day, Rosengart told Variety reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister that Jamie, who has denied wrongdoing, had made an “outrageous request.”
“Is that really what a father does?” he asked. “[Jamie] professes how much he loves his daughter, and yet, what does he want to do now? He wants more funds from her estate to prepare his own defense, and he wants to unseal her private records. It’s contrary to law, it’s contrary to common sense, and I think it’s indecent.”
