Britney Spears LAX Nightclub - P 2012
Getty ImagesBritney Spears scored a court victory Thursday in the case brought against her and her parents by former manager Sam Lufti.
On the heels of a motion by her parents’ attorneys to have the suit dismissed, the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to continue with the trial, according to the Associated Press.
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“BREAKING: 19 days after jury selection began, the #BritneyTrial is over. Judge ruled Sam Lutfi didn’t present enuf evidence 4 it to continue,” Newsweek/The Daily Beast entertainment reporter MariaElena Fernandez tweeted.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bruguera found that Lufti had not provided enough evidence for any of his claims to reach a jury. The ruling came two days after Lufti attorneys rested their case against the Spears family.
Lufti had sued Spears, who now serves as a judge of Fox’s The X Factor, and her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, for breach of contract, libel and defamation related to Lynne’s memoir, Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World. Lufti claimed Jamie hit him and that he is owed 15 percent share Britney’s earnings.
Earlier this week, the judge ruled that Spears, who is still under conservatorship overseen by her father, would not be forced to testify.
During his testimony, Lufti told the court that Spears’ infamous 2007 meltdown and head-shaving incident was spurred by her fear over a drug test, according to E! News. He also claimed he signed on to be her manager after she fired her own team — including manager Larry Rudolph, her agent, bodyguards and publicist — and had stopped speaking to her parents.
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Among the other people who testified were Spears’ paparazzo ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib and X17online photographer Filipe Texeira.
Spears’ parents obtained a restraining order against Lutfi in 2008, when she was placed under a conservatorship.
