Britney Spears' Restraining Order Against Ex-Manager Sam Lutfi Extended After He Calls It 'Unconstitutional'
Britney Spears' restraining order against her former manager, Sam Lutfi, will stay in place for now -- despite him calling it "unconstitutional."
A judge suspended a court hearing on Tuesday where Lutfi fought Spears' request for a civil harassment restraining order, ET has learned. The temporary restraining order against Lutfi will stay in effect until June 13, when a hearing will resume on whether it can be extended for several years.
In a court document filed ahead of the hearing and obtained by ET, Lutfi claimed that Spears' requested order, which would bar him from coming within 200 yards of Spears and her family and prevent him from making "any disparaging public statements," was "an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech that has not been adjudicated as defamatory."
Lutfi claimed the restraining order request was too vague and argued that the word "disparaging" in the order restricts him from speaking about Britney rather than restricting him from speaking directly to her.
"Would Mr. Lutfi face criminal prosecution if he publicly states that he does not like one of Ms. Spears' songs? What if he simply states that one of her new songs is not as good as one of her old songs? What if Mr. Lutfi states something factually true about Ms. Spears, but it is potentially embarrassing? Something factually true cannot be defamatory, but it could be disparaging," the document argued.
Spears filed for a restraining order against Lutfi on May 7, alleging that his actions have caused "severe mental trauma" while interfering with her life. In his filing ahead of the hearing on Tuesday, Lutfi claimed that Spears has no evidence to prove that his messages and public tweets caused her reasonable substantial emotional distress.
See more in the video below.
Additional reporting by Mannie Holmes.
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