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Britney Spears' conservatorship case has taken a turn as the law firm representing her father, Jamie Spears, is fighting back over recent legal arguments made by her mother, Lynne Spears.
Holland & Knight, the firm representing Jamie in the ongoing case, filed a preliminary response on Monday in a Los Angeles court decrying claims Lynne made just last week in opposition to his legal fees request totaling over $890,000.
"Lynne Spears is not acting in the best interests of the Conservatee. She has not been involved in her daughter's conservatorship until very recently, and she is now raising objections to fees related to matters that she has no knowledge of," Holland & Knight (H&K) claimed in the court filing obtained by Fox News.
Jamie now claims Lynne is "causing undue delay and expense" in the case, "and ironically, stirring up more unnecessary media attention."
Britney Spears' father Jamie (left) filed a rebuttal to Lynne Spears' recent objection to his legal fees request in the singer's ongoing conservatorship case. (Chris Farina/Corbis via Getty Images)
Jamie's attorneys also balk at Lynne's claim that Jamie and his attorneys are on a "national media tour," writing that they've "been very cautious, limited, and thoughtful in dealing with the media." They also accuse Lynne of the same thing she accused Jamie of by citing her previously published book about Britney, 39, which they claim "exploited her daughter's pain and trauma for personal profit."
Jamie's filing did not name the title of Lynne's book. However, Lynne has published two books related to her pop star daughter. In 2008, the singer's mom published "Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World" about both of her daughters, Britney and Jamie Lynn, 30. Britney and her mother also jointly penned "Britney Spears: Heart to Heart" in 2000.
The law firm also accused Lynne of serving Britney's previous manager Sam Lutfi's attorneys with her objections to H&K's legal fees. The firm questions if this was an "intentional act or careless error."
"The court does not need to be reminded about Mr. Lutfi," argues Jamie's counsel, noting that Britney has obtained two permanent restraining orders against him and was embroiled in a seven-year legal battle with the ex-manager who sued the conservatorship back in 2009.
In terms of Lynne's claim that Jamie's legal fees request was "improper," his attorneys claim the order "does not contain any language whatsoever that limits or restricts which attorneys at H&K are permitted to work on the case."
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Jamie now accuses Lynne of not acting in the pop star's best interests -- a claim her mother also made in a court filing last week. (Getty Images)
The firm also disputes Lynne's claim that the fee request is "substantively improper" due to its media-related work.
"This argument ignores the fact that the Conservatete has always been, and continues to be, the subject of increasingly intense media scrutiny both in traditional news media as well as on social media and most recently documentary films," the filing states.
Lynne's argument that the hours H&K racked up to work on the case was also disputed. H&K claims "no other law firm" did similar work.
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"Second, the argument is based on an incorrect and misleading statement that all H&K did was brief four issues and appear for four hearings. Even a cursory review of Ms. [Vivian] Thoreen's Declaration in Support of the Fee Petition shows that there were many more issues, objections, and disputes that H&K assisted the Conservator with, and more importantly, that H&K's work far surpassed merely briefing issues and appearing for hearings (and it should be noted those tasks took significant time to do properly."
H&K now asks the court to overrule Lynne's objection and concluded with the argument that Lynne is "not a party directly involved in the litigation."
As reported last week, the "Toxic" singer's mom claimed that the hours H&K tallied "are utterly excessive." The fee applications were filed for work that took place during the period of Oct. 17, 2020 and Feb. 28, 2021.
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The correspondence on the issue of Jamie's fee request is likely to continue at a court hearing scheduled for the conservatorship on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. A rep for Lynne Spears did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
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