Jada Pinkett Smith’s attorneys are asking for an order limiting the time of an upcoming deposition demanded by Will Smith’s former friend to two hours in an ongoing legal battle.
The suit is related to Bilaal Salaam’s allegations that Pinkett Smith 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 Pinkett Smith’s testimony is essential as he gathers discovery in a legal battle in which he is representing themselves.
“(Pinkett Smith’s) deposition is foundational to every subsequent examination in this case,” Salaam writes in his court papers. “Plaintiff cannot effectively depose any intermediary witness until he knows what defendant admits and what she denies under oath.”
But in court papers filed Thursday with Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon in advance of an Aug. 25 hearing, Pinkett Smith’s attorneys contend that unless a protective order is issued limiting the deposition time to two hours the proposed deposition would subject their client to “undue burden and expense.”
“A reasonable limitation on the duration of the deposition is necessary to ensure the examination remains proportional to the needs of this case,” according to the pleading of the lawyers for the 54-year-old actress and talk show hostess.
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.