BRITNEY Spears and her bevy of bodyguards managed to ward off a process serve and disrupt a Patricia Field fashion show last weekend.

The fun began when Spears' partner in her restaurant Nyla, Bobby Ochs, resigned last week.

Ochs is being sued for $86,000 in back rent by Joseph Z. Morris, the landlord of Ochs' failed former venture Peaches, which he ran with Marla Maples. Morris' lawyer, Gerald Padian, says he had served Spears with a subpoena to testify about Ochs' financial stake in Nyla, but she was a no-show at the deposition last week.

"She didn't show up, so we're moving to hold her in contempt of court," Padian told us. "We've located her several times to serve her again, but she's always surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards. We tried to serve her at the Matthew Williamson after-party on Friday night, but she was surrounded by 11 bodyguards. They couldn't get near her."

But Britney's lawyer, Michael Friedman, says Padian is "harassing" his pop tart client.

"To my knowledge she has never been served and we are objecting to any deposition on the grounds that she has no information. They're trying to burden and harass her because of who she is. They've been told that, but for some reason they're proceeding because they want to grab a headline."

Padian retorts: "My client doesn't need headlines, he needs his money. We've served more important people than Spears. We will get her."

After frustrating Padian's process servers at the Williamson party and at the Full Frontal Fashion bash on West 13th Street (where PAGE SIX couldn't even get close enough to make eye contact), Britney and her posse whooped it up at Suite 16 in Chelsea.

Then, on Sunday, Spears held up Patricia Field's fashion show for almost an hour when she tried to duck photographers lying in wait for her. "They were about to sit down in the front row when Britney saw all the photographers waiting for her and then they left and the photographers started to boo her," says a spy. "Pat Fields' assistants went nuts trying to fill the seats and 20 minutes later they had to clear everyone out again after Britney was coaxed back into the show."

A Nyla spokesman confirms that Ochs quit his role running the place last week, a job to be taken over by Dylan hotel management. Britney's boite has also hired a new kitchen boss, former Union Square Cafe chef Brad Gates.

Ochs previous ventures include Peaches - which closed in 1999 after only 8 months - and Mulholland Drive, which he ran with Patrick Swayze.

Reported by Dana Bennett - WoB North American News Correspondent
Source: NYPost
Posted by Ruben - Updating from Long Island, NY