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Spears cleared in stalker suit
Britney Spears is innocent after all--at least when it comes to causing an alleged stalker's "emotional distress."
Masahiko Shizawa, a 43-year-old software entrepreneur from Yokohama, had sued Spears and two of her bodyguards for causing him "emotional distress" when they found him lurking on her property and confronted him in October 2002. (Shizawa had been slapped with a permanent restraining order for allegedly harassing the singer with his overzealous fan mail, faxes and phone calls).
He claims that the hired muscle intimidated him and pointed a gun at him--apparently distressing him so much he needed to seek unspecified damages.
But U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled last week in Los Angeles that Spears was not liable for damages. She also removed the name of one bodyguard from the lawsuit but did allow charges to stand against guard Robert Feggans.
Reps for Spears and Shizawa could not immediately be reached for comment.
But Shizawa did have a rather colorful and obsessive history as a Britney-phile, apparently contacting the singer for more than three years via a series of phone calls, faxes and letters that said such sweet-nohtings as "I'm chasing you."
He then took his ardor to another level--he tried to break into her Los Angeles residence in December 2002, he showed up unannounced at the homes of her divorced parents in Louisiana and he also hunted her down all the way to her home in the Big Apple, which prompted Spears to seek a restraining order against him.
Eventually Spears withdrew the order when Shizawa agreed to stop contacting her, but she then had it reinstated when she got freaked out by a letter from Shizawa that read "there remains serious personal issues to be resolved [between us]" and "you are now living inside my head."
At the time, Shizawa's lawyer chalked the whole incident up to a "cultural misunderstanding."
But all is not lost for the lawsuit-happy Shizawa. He still has a $2 million suit pending against the city of Los Angeles for allegedly taking away his dignity during a search of his hotel room that took place during the whole Britney brouhaha. |
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