Pop star Britney Spears on Friday regained control of her personal life and her money when a judge ended a 13-year conservatorship that became a cause celebre for fans and critics of an arrangement typically meant to protect the elderly.
“Effective today, the conservatorship of the person and the estate of Britney Jean Spears is hereby terminated,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny said after a 30-minute hearing in which no one opposed ending the court-sanctioned arrangement.
The 39-year-old “Piece of Me” singer had begged the court for months to terminate the conservatorship that has governed her personal life and $60 million estate since 2008.
Spears did not attend Friday’s hearing but said in an Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CWMXjAMp-aJ post, “I love my fans so much it’s crazy!!! I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day !!!! Best day ever.”
Outside the courthouse, dozens of fans erupted into cheers and tossed pink confetti into the air when they heard the news. Some danced and sang to her hit “Stronger.”
“It was a monumental day for Britney Spears,” the pop star’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, said outside the courthouse. He thanked the #FreeBritney movement which he said had been essential to ending the legal arrangement.
The conservatorship was set up and overseen by the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, after she had a public breakdown in 2007 and was hospitalized for undisclosed mental health issues.
Interest in the case was propelled in the past year by documentaries and the #FreeBritney movement of fans who questioned why the singer needed such restrictions while she was touring around the world and earning millions of dollars.
Lauriann Wright, the attorney for Jodi Montgomery, who had been entrusted with overseeing Spears’ personal life, told the judge there was “no reason this termination cannot happen and Ms. Spears cannot live a safe, happy and fulfilling life.”
Rosengart said a “safety net” had been put in place to help Spears transition back to regular life. Judge Penny added that the current conservator should continue working to settle ongoing financial issues in the case.
“I’m shaking,” Leanne Simmons, a fan and one of the organizers of the #FreeBritney movement, said shortly after the decision. “It still hasn’t sunk in to hear those words, ‘The conservatorship has been terminated.’ Britney is a free woman.”
The Spears case helped prompt hearings in the U.S. Congress and a new law in California aimed at preventing abusive conservatorships, which are normally set up to protect disabled people, the elderly or those suffering from dementia.
TRAUMATIZED AND HUMILIATED
Since revealing years of private anguish in tearful testimony in June, Spears hired Rosengart, who moved aggressively to end the restrictions.
In June, she told the court she had been humiliated and traumatized https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/britney-spears-gets-her-day-court-what-will-she-say-2021-06-23 and that she wanted her life back. She said she had been forced to work and take medication against her will and was prevented from marrying or even getting her hair done.
“She stepped up on June 23rd and really shocked the country and shocked the world with her powerful, poignant words,” Rosengart said.
Judge Penny ended the conservatorship without requiring Spears to undergo a mental health evaluation, a step often taken in such cases.
The arrangement began to crumble in September when in a sudden reversal Jamie Spears said he supported ending it because it had helped her and was no longer needed.
Penny suspended Jamie Spears https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/britney-spears-case-back-court-with-dads-role-line-2021-09-29from the conservatorship in late September, calling his involvement “toxic” to the singer’s well-being.
Rosengart is pushing for Jamie Spears to be investigated for possible financial mismanagement of his daughter’s affairs, but he said on Friday it would be up to Britney Spears to decide how to proceed on that matter.
Jamie Spears has said through attorneys that he helped his daughter rehabilitate her career and always acted in her best interest.
Spears is engaged to marry her personal trainer boyfriend, Sam Asghari, but no date has been set. “History was made today. Britney is Free,” Asghari wrote on Instagram.
(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Cynthia Osterman and Jonathan Oatis)
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
