By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California court on Monday deniedan attorney's bid to challenge an order that gave control oftroubled pop star Britney Spears' personal and business affairsto her father, Jamie Spears.
A three-judge panel of California's 2nd District Court ofAppeals said on Monday an appeal to the conservatorship grantedto Jamie Spears cannot be heard by them. The ruling marks thesecond time attorney Jon Eardley has failed to insert himselfinto the legal proceedings on Spears' behalf.
"An order granting letters of temporary conservatorship isspecifically excluded from those orders made appealable" underCalifornia law, the judges ruled.
A spokesman for Eardley had no immediate comment.
Eardley filed the appeal on March 11 to the conservatorshipthat put Jamie Spears and lawyer Andrew Wallet in charge of thesinger's affairs. Wallet and Spears were made co-conservatorsby a California court in early February, and the order nowextends to July 31.
Britney Spears, 26, has seen her life spiral out of controlsince her November 2006 breakup with ex-husband KevinFederline. She has been in rehab, lost custody of her two sonsand in January was taken to two Los Angeles-area hospitalswhere she was put under psychiatric evaluation.
In recent weeks, however, Spears seems to have been on themend, and will appear on Monday in U.S. television show, "How IMet Your Mother."
Sam Lutfi, the self-styled manager who was Spears' constantcompanion through much of 2007 has had a temporary restrainingorder issued against him to keep him away from Spears. Thatorder remains in place until April 16.
Lutfi and Eardley are both represented by the same LosAngeles-based spokesman, Michael Sands, but Sands has notdisclosed any connection between them.
Eardley said in a court filing that Britney Spears hiredhim in a telephone conversation.
In February, Eardley tried to move the conservatorship casefrom state court to federal court, where he believed he mightobtain legal standing.
But a federal judge ruled he could not represent Spearsbecause at the time he said he had been hired, Spears had nolegal authority to hire a lawyer.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Todd Eastham)
