Britney's dad to the...rescue?

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Britney Spears' father and a lawyer who claims to represent her traded legal barbs Monday in an intensifying fight over whether James Spears is violating her civil rights by controlling her finances and life.

Attorney John Eardley, who told The Associated Press he was the "only person who represents Britney Spears," filed documents in federal court asserting that she is being held by her father in a situation that violates her civil rights.

A lawyer for James Spears said in papers filed Monday that Eardley cannot represent the singer because a probate judge in state court found that Britney Spears "lacks the capacity to hire an attorney, and Mr. Eardley cannot remove the conservatorship proceedings on his own behalf."