Judge grants Spears more time in license case

updated 3:25 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears’ lawyer won more time Friday to work on the pop star’s case in which she is charged with driving without a valid license.

Attorney Michael Flanagan appeared with prosecutor Michael Amerian before a judge and said they had been unable to agree on what law applies. They asked for more time and were given until Feb. 20.

But Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman said that he was not going to grant any more delays after that, and if the parties could not agree he would order a trial. “It’s this court’s intention to force both sides to go to trial within 30 days of that date,” he said.

The case stems from an August incident in which Spears was videotaped as she bumped another vehicle while parking her Mercedes-Benz. She left after looking over the damage from the fender-bender.

The owner of the other vehicle later filed a police report and Spears was charged in September with misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving without a valid license. The hit-and-run charges were dismissed in October after Spears paid an undisclosed sum to the owner.

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Flanagan said outside court that Spears was driving with a Louisiana license that was valid because she owns homes in that state. But he said that when a person is “domiciled” in California they are required to get a California license and that Spears did so within a week after the charges were filed.

“There’s no dispute about the facts here,” he said. “The dispute is about what the law is that’s appropriate to the facts.”

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