Britney Spears ex-manager Sam Lufti claims her 'drug use got so bad she spent night sleeping in a parking lot', as he takes pop star to court for 'unpaid earnings'

An ongoing legal battle between Britney Spears and one-time manager Sam Lufti over whether or not he's owed commissions from the time he worked for her is heading back to court.

And among paperwork filed by the pop star's legal team is a 2015 ruling by the California Court of Appeals confirming that Britney was a drug user back in 2007-08.

The Appeals Court decision described how her abuse of illicit substances was so bad that on the day she lost custody of the two young sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline, she ended up sleeping in a parking lot.

At the time Lufti and Britney met, the star was going through a messy divorce from Federline and was estranged from her parents.

She was also, the judges wrote, 'struggling with drug abuse.'

Lufti claims he only agreed to manage her if she agreed to stop using drugs.

Her parents, Lynne and Jamie, however, have long pointed the finger at Lufti who, they say, supplied their daughter with drugs.

Lufti sued Lynne Spears for defamation following the publication of her book  Through The Storm. 

That suit was tossed out of court before it could come to trial.

But last year the California Court Of Appeals ruled that the decision to toss out his defamation lawsuit against Lynne in late 2012 did not prevent him from seeking financial redress for monies he claims he is still owed.

Lufti has filed a breach of contract suit against his former friend who he says turned to him for help in 2007 and asked him to be her manager.

And as part of the process, Lufti's team is preparing to depose the pop star.

However, her legal team has filed documents requesting Lufti himself be barred from the deposition, and the 2015 ruling is included among that paperwork.

 

 

Lufti contends that he agreed to manage Britney if she got clean and granted him 15 percent of her earnings during the time he was her manager, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.

The judges, as reported by TMZ, decided that Britney had asked Lufti to manage her and that he had accepted on the condition that she let him put together a team and she would stop abusing drugs. 

Lufti had also insisted on the right to use drug sniffing dogs to make sure she stayed clean.

The judges said that despite her promises, Britney continued to use drugs.

Eventually, in 2008, her father Jamie got a court-approved conservatorship of Britney after she was forcibly admitted to a psych ward for evaluation at the end of January 2008. She has since bounced back in her career and her personal life.