Justin Bieber is facing legal trouble again. According to Billboard, a Florida judge has ordered the 22-year-old to sit down for a deposition within the next 30 days or face the threat of being arrested and brought to court.
The order compels Bieber to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit filed by a photographer who got into an altercation with one of Bieber’s bodyguards in Miami Beach. The order was issued by Circuit Judge Jerald Bagley on Sept. 28 in Miami.
The 2014 incident involves Miami paparazzo Manuel Moñoz, who claims that one of the singer’s bodyguards beat him up and took his memory card after Muñoz snapped some pictures of the Love Yourself singer.
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The photographer’s lawyer claims that he has been unable to get Bieber to sit for the deposition. Lawyer Mark DiCowden says Bieber isn’t entitled to any special treatment just because he’s a celebrity.
This incident took place on the same night that Bieber was arrested by Miami Beach police for allegedly racing a Lamborghini on the city’s streets.
Bieber struck a deal in August 2014 with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanour careless driving and resisting an officer without violence. He made a $50,000 donation to a children’s charity and agreed to attend a 12-hour anger management course. The deal allowed the What Do You Mean hitmaker to avoid a DUI conviction.
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This is not the first paparazzi-related lawsuit against the Canadian pop star.
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In 2013, Miami photographer Jeffrey Binion accused Bieber of allegedly instructing a bodyguard to attack him and take his film card after taking a photo of him outside a Miami-area recording studio. Bieber settled the lawsuit in 2015, which also included a deposition.
TMZ reported that the deposition is set to be filmed, which doesn’t excite Bieber’s lawyers.
The last time Bieber was deposed on camera it didn’t go very well. “I don’t have to listen to anything you say,” Bieber told the lawyer for Binion in one of the clips.
In another clip he compared the questioning lawyer to Katie Couric. “Is this a news interview for you, because it’s not, it’s your deposition,” the lawyer said. “Do you understand that?” Bieber replied, “Yes, but I see what you’re doing.”
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If Bieber doesn’t come willingly to Miami in those 30 days, the judge will issue a writ of bodily attachment, which means Bieber would be taken in by the sheriff. The Sorry singer will be in Europe until the end of November for the international leg of his Purpose tour.
Bieber’s lawyer was contacted by The Associated Press, but didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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