I guess there was some truth to what Britney Spears' former bodyguard Fernando Flores said in his sexual harassment complaint because Britney settled with the man before the case went to trial and before she could give a deposition. I think the bodyguard would have called in a bunch of other bodyguards and employees or had already deposed them and discovered that Britney does walk around naked all the time and she probably has made sexual remarks to them in the past and probably things have happened too or got out of hand in the past. I think the guy is a jerk in general so it makes it hard for me to be sympathetic to his plight. I always try and think about if it was a male employer who walked around naked with female employees and made sexual remarks and hit on them while being naked, I think everyone would expect the woman to sue and we would feel sorry that she had to work in that kind of environment. For some reason it is different with guys. Also, the guy has sold everything to the tabloids the entire time so you just feel he was only in this to make as much money as he could and not that he was personally offended by what Britney was doing.
The bit that I read on this this morning is that he claimed she would drop her lighter in front of him and then bend over and he could see her lady parts. If the line of questioning would be "Have you ever worn a skirt without underwear? Have you ever bent over wearing a skirt without underwear? Have you ever done this in front of an employee?" There's probably no denying it, regardless of what her intent was. She probably just settled (it said it was a "modest amount"), just to not have to deal with it anymore.
ReplyDeleteHe cld hv just. Idk, quit! Instead of staying to make lawsuit. Everyone knows she has issues and acts out, that cldnt hv been a surprise. So u quit and move on.
ReplyDeletePlus the very small but important fact that she is MENTALLY ILL.
ReplyDeleteOr, she settled because her lawyers advised she would pay them more to fight the case so it was better to right a small check (in her world and money) and make him go away - along with a "P.S - by cashing this check you agree to never speak to the media about this again"
ReplyDeleteBut I believed parts of his story. Parts only though
I read his entire statement, the legal docs, months ago. She sounded really inappropriate and gross. I wouldn't want to work around her.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't get, and could swear I read yesterday, is that the settlement didn't cover his legal costs. That doesn't make sense to me.
No doubt, Brenda. Destructive expressions of 'sexuality' are a hallmark of bipolar people, and a host of other problems too. Being desired fills a gap in their self-esteem.
ReplyDeleteEmEyeKay - I read that, too. I'm sure there's more to this settlement than we know. Maybe they just kind of said, Look, you've already profited off of this enough. Take this money and STFU. :)
ReplyDeleteI think this guy took advantage of a situation he knew was toxic (see what I did there) anyways, he is a money gruber, but she can afford it so everyone wins:)
ReplyDeleteIt's cheaper to settle than go to trial probably. She was really sick when grease with her wasn't.she? When she went off the rails? I.can totally see her acting inappropriately.
ReplyDeleteDarn you autocorrect!
ReplyDeleteBritney seems like a very lonely person even though she's surrounded by people. I don't think she has any real friends and that's sad, especially having a mental illness. And while I don't defend all her behavior around this guy, so what if she walked around naked? It was HER house.
ReplyDeleteprobably a combination of cheaper to settle than go to a trial, plus that one leech (sam lufti?) has been demanding her deposition again, on the basis that she's getting married and judging on the tv show.
ReplyDeleteher people are probably like "UGH! make it go away!"
@Libby - I am always trying to diagnose these stars. Britney has me confused. She's either severely bi-polar or she's schizophrenic. I can't decide. Lately I've been thinking "bi-polar with psychotic tendencies". When she was at her worst, I do believe she was psychotic.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should have double standards with sexual harassment. Her behavior was probably in violation of a whole bunch of sex harassment laws and he had a right to sue. That said, I do think her parents pimped her out at a young age and this is the result, so I have some sympathy for her. I fear for what Courtney Stodden will be doing in 10-15 years.
ReplyDeleteCourtney Stodden will either be a porn star or dead in 10 - 15 years.
ReplyDeleteThe guy could always have just quit if he was so offended. Hell, Britney could prance around naked in front of me all she wants. I'd have no objections whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteunbelievable that the woman here are saying it was no big deal, but like enty said if it was a guy walking about naked, getting a woman to look at his penis as much as possible, you'd be condemning him, calling him a sleaze and a scumbag and congratulating the woman on getting the money she deserves. harassment is harassment. Britney used to be very hot but he said she never showered or anything while she was doing it. ewwwww
ReplyDeleteIdk
ReplyDeleteI am a woman, and yes sexual harassment is wrong no matter what, but the first time my boss walked around naked or showed me his peen I would quit on the spot.
No one forced him to put up with it day after day, after day....if she weren't rich, famous, and beautiful do you think he would have stayed? Meh.
Hope I have this right - maybe @Amber can back me up - but the whole suit was more than sexual harassment. The parts about the children bugged me, how he would get left in charge of them while she banged someone for an hour. I really hope I'm not wrong about this since I'm stating it, I don't have a link to the documents. Does anyone else?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad her father stepped in to have the conservatorship put in place. I'm pretty sure she's been accused/sued for this type of behavior before. Sometimes mentally ill people really do need to be saved from themselves. So this guy found her gross, but there's probably others out there who would take advantage of her.
ReplyDeleteIt was absolutely inappropriate for her to walk around naked as it wasnt just her house, but his place of employment. What she did is absolutely inappropriate and illegal. I see no problem with him being financially compensated for having to work in such a hostile and sexually charged environment, regardless of what Britney's mental state was.
ReplyDeleteAs for the comment that he could "just quit"...we dont know what his financial situation was like and it is quite possible that he NEEDED that paycheck. Nor should a condition of his employment be that he must be subjected to such inappropriateness.
I find it disturbing that so many people are employing double standards regarding this man's situation. If the sexes were reversed for the employee and employer, I am quite sure that people would have quite a different opinion.
This was the lawsuit that they wanted to continue her conservatorship because of. Supposedly while she is under conservatorship, she doesn't have to give a deposition, and they thought if she gave a deposition it would "hurt" her professionally/financially. At least this was the story 6 months ago...
ReplyDeleteI'm faulting her manager or conservator. They knew what she was like, and they were in charge of her business. So - hire the right kind of staff (people skilled in caring for the mentally ill, not run of the mill security guys), make it clear in the employment contract that the work environment would include this kind of inappropriate behavior, and PAY THEM ACCORDINGLY.
ReplyDeletePlus, insist on a nondisclosure agreement. What kind of putzes has she got working for her that they dropped the ball on something as elementary as that?
My step dad worked in the court when her divorce proceedings from kfed, conservatorship, and peak of crazy antics and his comment was "who DIDN'T see her vagina when she came in the court building?"
ReplyDelete@Em, I settled a sex harassment case once. Per the conditions when the firm took the case, the lawyer fees were a cut of the payment I received.
ReplyDeleteHere it is, I read it on TMZ, so... grain of salt... but still:
ReplyDelete"...the settlement was amicable but the money didn't even cover all of Flores' legal costs."
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2012/09/11/britney-spears-ex-bodyguard-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-settlement/#ixzz26H6bKx1u
As someone that's supposedly an "attorney" you should know that a settlement hardly is admitting guilt.
ReplyDeletemeh. Most civil cases settle and there's even more motivation to settle if you're a celeb and have the money and don't want to be bothered. The fact that it settled for a modest amount speaks to the untruth, not the truth, of the allegations. What a creep.
ReplyDeleteShe wouldn't have paid if she wasn't guilty of something.
ReplyDelete@amartel, that's what I thought. If she settled for less than his fees, he must not have had a leg to stand on. Right?
ReplyDeleteI found the original document if anyone's interested:
http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0909_spears.pdf
@parissucks, not necessarily. Settlements often come because one party determines the cost of fully fighting the claims (for counsel and potential claims, plus any damage to reputation in the process) to be far greater than simply negotiating financial terms up front.and putting the mess aside.
ReplyDeleteGiven Britney's reported mental fragility, it may have been in her best interest to not drag this into interrogatories, depositions and ultimately a civil trial.
thanks for the link @Em
ReplyDeleteWow! after reading what the documents say about her behaivior with her children I can see why they wouldnt want her to answer to a deposition or go to trial...also, Just because the bodyguard is a man does not mean he should have reacted differently to innapropriate behavior by an employer! I actually respect the guy for not taking advantage of her despite her making it easy for him to do so.
Any ideas as to who her boyfriend was at the time?
^Her fiance, I believe.
ReplyDeleteHe should thank the woman, no sue her! WTF is wrong with people?
ReplyDeleteBrittany, can I have a job?
@EmEyeKay, I was thinking the same thing. If he accepted a settlement that didn't even cover his atty fees, maybe his claims weren't the most compelling. Just a thought. I'm not an attorney, but I am a paralegal for a company with lots of lawsuits and we settle the majority of them. In no way, is that an admission of guilt. It just costs a lot more to take a case to trial.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if perhaps her attorneys didn't want to subject her to a deposition because of her mental state. Depositions are tough and stressful.