Hot on the heels of Justin Bieber broadcasting Selena Gomez is his Achilles Heel during an extraordinarily hostile four-and-a-half-hour deposition in Miami last week, the lawyer of the photographer suing the singer in a civil assault case filed a motion Wednesday requesting a judge order the 20-year-old to another deposition.
And this time, the only topic on the table would be Bieber’s relationship with Gomez.
According to Gossip Extra , photographer Jeffrey Binion’s lawyer – Mark DiCowden, who deposed Justin last week — filed a motion asking Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel to:
“Order Justin Bieber to submit to additional deposition questions within 30 days concerning Selena Gomez.”
According to the South Florida outlet, DiCowden additionally asked the judge to ban Bieber’s lawyers Howard Weitzman and Jeremiah Reynolds from representing the star from this point on in the Binion lawsuit.
The motion states Bieber’s lawyers shut down DiCowden’s line of questioning when he asked the “ Baby ” singer if he had ever discussed his feelings about paparazzi with Gomez.
Justin and Selena began dating in 2010, broke up in 2012, and are believed to have reunited after multiple sightings of the pair in PDA moments in Texas last weekend.
This was followed by a song dedication [ captured on video ] from the Canadian to “my baby” while looking at the Latina during an acoustic show at the SXSW Festival, and an incendiary video of the couple dancing to John Legend’s hit “ Ordinary People ” popping up on Bieber’s Instagram account Monday.
As per Gossip Extra , DiCowden’s motion to ban Bieber’s lawyers (also filed Wednesday), states: “The California lawyers acted in bad faith and adversely impacted the administration of justice.”
During Bieber’s contentious deposition in which he was grilled on a number of relevancy-testing questions ranging from his mentor Usher, to how many managers he had, to whether he had a prescription for Xanax, the singer didn’t do himself any favors by answering with snarky, evasive or flippant replies.
When it came to the Gomez question, Bieber point-blank refused to answer and repeatedly told opposing counsel, “Don’t ask me about her again.”
Transcripts and a clip of the moment posted by TMZ just days after the deposition, revealed Weitzman then prevented DiCowden from probing Bieber further on Gomez and instructed the singer to leave the hearing which prompted a 15 minute recess.
DiCowden correctly contends that his basis for introducing Gomez into the hearing relates to a May 2012 incident, in which a paparazzo named Jose Osmin Hernandez Duran claims he was drop-kicked by Bieber after he took photographs of the then 18-year-old and Gomez out on a date at a shopping center in Calabasas, California.
TMZ reports DiCowden considers Gomez’s witness status in that incident as enough reason to believe she allegedly knows Bieber has a history of alleged violence toward paparazzi and establishes grounds to ask Bieber about his relationship with the starlet.
After Duran filed a complaint, the Los Angeles District Attorney declined to press charges against Bieber. In a November 2012 statement, the department said out of all the videos and photographs taken at the scene and statements from the emergency workers who attended, all agreed there was nothing indicating a physical altercation took place .
Duran has since filed a civil assault and battery case in June 2013 and is seeking damages.
Into the mix of the new motions, Page Six reports Bieber’s legal team are outraged about the deposition video leaks and are “considering making a request to the judge to order an audit to see if a payment was received by anyone on Binion’s side for the tape which they believe is serious malpractice.”
A source told the New York City outlet:
“The video was leaked so quickly that Justin’s legal team believes it was all a setup . The questions Justin was being asked, including questions about Usher, had nothing to do with the case.”
“He was being harassed with extremely strange questions, and the chosen clips that were released, which show Justin to be frustrated, happened four and a half hours into the deposition.”
Binion’s legal team is led by attorney Russell S. Adler — a former partner in Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s law firm, previously suspended for three months by the bar association in December 2013. They are now circling the millions of damages they are suing for.
Binion, 56, claims he was assaulted by Bieber’s bodyguards on the singer’s orders after he was spotted snapping the singer outside a Miami studio on June 5, 2013. He is also suing one of Bieber’s bodyguards – Hugo Hesny – who he alleges held him in a choke hold and displayed a firearm while other Biebs’ guards took his camera and memory card to delete pictures.
As of now, DiCowden is reportedly talking informally to Gomez’s lawyers about bringing her in for a deposition to probe her about the 2012 case. Gossip Extra reports that if her team don’t play ball he is prepared to subpoena the 21-year-old to be deposed in the Binion suit against Bieber.
A source told the website,
“They [DiCowden] know Selena wants no part of this. She knows it could be a PR disaster to end up on video like Justin last week.”
Reasonable expectation? On the basis of Bieber’s emotional reaction when questioned about Gomez at his first deposition hearing, it’s likely he will instruct his legal team to negotiate with Binion’s lawyers to financially settle the suit.
Translation: Game over, and a dangerous precedent.
(Video: Bieber and Gomez dance to John Legend’s “Ordinary People” in Texas Studio).