CELEBTV.COM EXCLUSIVE: BRIT’S ACCIDENT VICTIM MEETS WITH SPEARS’ ATTORNEY
October 09, 2007 In an exclusive interview with CelebTV.com, Britney Spears' hit-and-run victim says Spears' attorney offered her a deal on Friday -- apparently to spare Spears the trouble of yet another drawn-out legal drama.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Commissioner Rebecca Omens ordered that Spears be booked for the August accident, in which the pop star was caught on videotape hitting registered nurse Kim Robard-Rifkin's Mercedes in a Studio City parking lot.
But Robard-Rifkin, 59, exclusively tells CelebTV.com that Spears' attorney, Michael J. Flanagan, came to her home last Friday to work out a deal and pressured her into sparing Spears the trouble of a court case.
"We will go to court a day early and make arrangements for restitution to save Britney from the press," Robard-Rifkin says Flanagan told her.
"The impression I got from the attorney [was that] once again I am here to make Britney's life easier," Robard-Rifkin tells CelebTV.com. The nurse first learned it was Spears who hit her car after seeing a paparazzi videotape of the incident on the Web.
"I think now that Britney's people have finally have contacted me, they once again prove that the only person in the incident that counts is Britney Spears," she adds. "I got the impression I am only here to make life easier for Britney."
"I never even got a simple apology," Robard-Rifkin tells us. "I have been very inconvenienced by this whole matter -- filing a police report, getting hundreds of calls from the media.
"Why do I want to make her life easier at this point? She has not even apologized."
Britney's attorney did address the issue of paying for the damage, according to Robard-Rifkin. She says she got one estimate for repairs to her Mercedes, which involved using used parts, in the amount of $1,697.
When she passed this along to Flanagan, Robard-Rifkin contends, he offered her the exact sum -- not a penny more -- plus a 2-day car rental.
"I asked, 'What if it takes more than two days to fix?'" recalls Robard-Rifkin. "He said it would only take two days."
For his part, Flanagan tells CelebTV.com he simply wants to handle the case quickly and efficiently. "I just want to pay her what she has coming and get rid of this case," he says. "It's not the crime of the century. This case is much ado about nothing. It's a little bit of paint damage. I can't get [Robard-Rifkin] to give me a number. She said she'd make me an offer. I said, 'I will pay you two thousand dollars and a rental car.'"
According to Robard-Rifkin, Flanagan told her in their Friday meeting he would clear his client on all charges regardless of Robard-Rifkin's cooperation. "You are not going in to get anymore money from the judge," she recalls him saying. "I'm going to get Britney off for these charges."
Robard-Rifkin, who did not attend this week's hearing in the case, argues that Flanagan misrepresented their conversation in court on Tuesday. "I find it infuriating that the lawyer told the judge we are working on restitution," she says. "I think he was deceitful when he said this. I found his behavior offensive and he trivialized the fact that I have been harassed non-stop since this occurred."
