Jada Pinkett Smith’s attorneys are asking that a judge issue a standard protective order in her upcoming video deposition by Will Smith’s former friend, saying it will sufficiently stop any public distribution of confidential portions of the testimony.
The suit is related to Bilaal Salaam’s allegations that the actress and talk show host became upset after Salaam refused to do some crisis management following the 94th Academy Awards incident when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage. Salaam further alleges that he received threats after Pinkett Smith learned that he planned to publish a memoir talking about her personal business.
Salaam contends that the 54-year-old Pinkett Smith’s testimony is essential as he gathers discovery in a legal battle in which he is representing himself. But in court papers filed Tuesday with Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon, Pinkett Smith’s lawyers argue that Salaam’s proposed revisions in the court’s regular deposition protective order are unwarranted.
“The standard Los Angeles County protective order provides the procedures necessary to designate confidential deposition testimony, challenge those designations if appropriate and ensure confidential discovery materials are used only for purposes of this litigation,” the actress’ attorneys write in their court papers.
Nonetheless, Salaam is asking Harmon to replace the standard protective order with a significantly pared version that removes many of the necessary protections to govern confidential discovery material, arguing that the revised version is necessary to preserve his ability to discuss information he already possesses or is contained in the public record and still other information he may wish to report to law enforcement, according to the Pinkett Smith lawyers’ pleadings.
But the standard protective order already accomplishes those objectives and Salaam identifies no deficiency in the standard order and so there are reasons to eliminate the protections it provides, the Pinkett Smith attorneys further argue in their court papers.
In his previous court papers, Salaam, a Van Nuys resident who is representing himself, said that Pinkett Smith’s deposition is “foundational to every subsequent examination in this case: and that he cannot effectively depose any intermediary witness until he knows what the actress admits and denies under oath.
Pinkett-Smith’s attorneys say the deposition should be limited to a maximum two hours.
“A reasonable limitation on the duration of the deposition is necessary to ensure the examination remains proportional to the needs of this case,” according Pinkett-Smith’s lawyers pleadings filed in advance of an Aug. 25 hearing.
Salaam filed the lawsuit last May 7 and it was pared through a judge’s partial granting of Pinkett Smith’s anti-SLAPP motion on April 13. The surviving claims concern Pinkett Smith’s alleged threats, coercion and intimidation of Salaam through intermediaries.