Caylee Anthony Update 26 February

In an emergency hearing Wednesday afternoon on the defamation suit filed against Casey Anthony, a civil court judge decided to delay the depositions of George and Cindy Anthony.

The lawyer for the grandparents of slain 2-year-old Caylee Anthony told a civil court judge that his clients are too emotionally distressed to face questioning.

"George Anthony attempted suicide - that was less than a month ago that he was released from the hospital," said Brad Conway. "Cindy has had to deal with that."

An attorney for plaintiff Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez (pictured) said justice for his client cannot wait, but in the end, Judge Jose Rodriguez sided with the Anthonys.

"I don't think it's fair and it's appropriate to allow this to become a free-for-all," he said as he announced his ruling. Rodriguez will take 20 days to assess the Anthonys' medical conditions, and decide whether the media will be allowed to be present for the depositions, if they happen at all. There is a hearing scheduled for May to dismiss the case entirely.

Gonzalez filed the suit because she claims that Casey Anthony ruined her life when she said a nanny with the same name kidnapped little Caylee. The toddler's remains were found in December in a wooded area near the Anthony home, and investigators believe that nanny does not exist.

The Florida Bar has another inquiry open into Casey Anthony's defense attorney, Jose Baez.

A Bar spokeswoman couldn't disclose details about the inquiry, but said it pertains to Baez's relationship with his now former media-relations company.

Since fall, Baez's law firm referred news reporters to a spokesman named Todd Black with Press Corps Media.

Black never agreed to in-person interviews with reporters, would not provide his photograph and did not reveal his true identity.

Press Corps Media later confirmed that three people used the Todd Black name.

And recently, the company confirmed that one of the people who called himself Todd Black was Gil Cabot. Cabot was sentenced to five years in a California prison in 1990 after he was convicted of attempting to extort television journalist Jann Carl.

In October, The Florida Bar initiated an investigation into Baez after the State Attorney's Office faxed the Bar several news releases Black had sent to media outlets.

The Bar closed its file in January and found that no disciplinary proceedings against the Kissimmee lawyer were appropriate.

Two of those news releases criticized State Attorney Lawson Lamar.

Timothy Chinaris, an attorney representing Baez in that inquiry, told the Bar that Press Corps Media was retained by a Connecticut family.

Chinaris said his client had not paid and will not pay "any part" of Press Corps Media's fees or expenses.

Baez has since hired Marti Mackenzie as his new spokeswoman. In an e-mail statement, Mackenzie said this afternoon: "The circumstances of Mr. Baez's now severed association with Press Corps Media have not changed; as Timothy Chinaris, an ethics attorney representing Baez in the first Bar inquiry, told the Bar, Press Corps Media claimed that it was retained by a Connecticut family. We expect that the Bar will again close the file and find that no disciplinary proceedings are appropriate."

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