Dolly Parton’s manager drops complaint accusing nephew of harassment

Dolly Parton’s longtime manager on Thursday dropped a complaint that accused the late singer’s nephew of threatening her estate and its employees.

She’s Alive, the entity founded to manage and protect Parton’s estate, had secured a temporary restraining order against Bryan Seaver and his security company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services, in September.

A hearing, pushed several times over the course of a month, was slated for Tuesday.

A very brief filing in a Tennessee court Thursday gave no reason why the complaint was being withdrawn.

It said only that a proposed order was being drafted for the judge’s approval to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled again. A court filing from a day earlier said the two sides had reached an agreement, but that also gave no details.

The Associated Press sent emails seeking comment from lawyers for She’s Alive, Seaver and his company.

The case exposed a serious rift in Parton‘s inner circle that spilled into public view in the weeks after her death.

She’s Alive terminated Seaver and SAPS in early September, and the following week petitioned for the restraining order against him, arguing that his “terrorizing conduct made their continued retention untenable”.

The petition said that starting shortly before Parton’s 25 August death and continuing after, Seaver made threats and aimed them directly at She’s Alive’s “personnel, counsel, and business partners. In writing, he vowed to ‘destroy the entire brand.’”

It says he “called himself ‘literally an international arms dealer and mercenary’” and said everyone “needs to be worried about what I might do”.

In granting the temporary order, Chancellor I’Ashea L Myles cited Seaver’s “claimed access to weapons, experience with violence, and intention to retaliate”.

Seaver said in court filings that he considered Danny Nozell, Parton’s longtime manager, a close friend and ally before Nozell took out the restraining order.

In an affidavit, Seaver said text messages Nozell cited as evidence of his threats were a “private conversation between two friends who were both frustrated, grieving and discussing strategy”.

“I have never threatened physical harm to Mr Nozell, to any SAL employee, contractor, attorney, advisor, or business partner, or to anyone else associated with SAL,” Seaver said. “I have no intention of doing so.”