Justin Bieber Paternity Suit Update

The paternity suit filed against Justin Bieber has been dropped – but a lawyer for plaintiff Mariah Yeater says the case isn’t over yet.

Yeater filed court papers Oct. 31 in San Diego Superior Court claiming Bieber is the father of her three-month old child. She claims that she and Bieber had a brief sexual encounter last fall after one of his concerts at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. At the time she had just turned 19 and Bieber was 16.

Bieber quickly denied the “malicious” claims and says he has never met Yeater. Last week a spokesman for the singer said Bieber would take a paternity test to clear his name in addition to filing a countersuit against Yeater. The team planned to “vigorously pursue all available legal remedies to protect Justin,” according to the Associated Press

Photo: AP Photo
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TMZ.com reported Wednesday that Yeater’s suit was “quietly dismissed late last week.” The gossip site noted that Yeater’s lawyers Lance Rogers and Matt Pare have withdrawn from the case.

Chicago paternity attorney Jeffrey Leving told WGN Morning News in Chicago Wednesday that he is still working on Yeater’s case.

“No, I did not step down. And there is a new legal team … In light of death threats against my client strategies have been reviewed,” Leving said in a telephone interview.

Leving confirmed that Yeater still believes Bieber is the father. The lawyer said that Yeater will not being giving any more interviews and that negotiations are underway with Bieber’s counsel.

“We’re trying to negotiate a private, secure DNA test with the same safeguards that would exist if there was a court order, but without a court order because the case is completely out of control and I don’t want something terrible to happen to my client or her child,” Leving told WGN.

Leving said he thinks the DNA test will be completed and that his goal is to keep the results of the test confidential. He noted that he realizes that “will be very difficult if not impossible based on all the media exposure. But that is my goal, to try and keep my client and her child out of the media. … I’m very, very concerned about this. So this matter is not over.”

As far as the timetable for the private negotiations, Leving said, “that’s what we’re negotiating.”

Click here for the WGN story.

Click here for the TMZ.com story.