Britney Spears Videos: Britney Spears' mother has lost an endeavor to persuade a California bids court: Sam Lufti, who represented the pop star for about five months in 2007-08, sued Lynne Spears over comments in her 2008 book, "Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World." The elder Spears painted a portrait of Lufti as a predatory Svengali-type who drugged Britney and served as a gatekeeper for all others. Specifically, the book referred to Lufti as a "predator," a "fake" and a "shifty" man, and accused him of "planning evil" and using paparazzi as his "henchmen."

Spears attempted to have the case tossed at the trial court using California's strong free speech laws, and when the judge ruled against her, she argued on appeal that the trial court erred when it didn't dismiss the defamation cause of action on a libel-proof claim (the legal theory being that Lufti's reputation was so bad that he essentially couldn't be defamed). But the appeals court has now rejected that argument, so the case goes back to the trial court.