A lawsuit filed by Dolly Parton’s longtime manager against the singer’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, has been voluntarily dismissed, just days before the two sides were due to appear in court.
Danny Nozell and his attorneys filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice on Thursday, according to court filings obtained by Page Six. The dismissal is without prejudice, meaning Nozell could refile the same claims against Seaver at a later date. It is not yet known whether the two sides reached a settlement.
The case had been headed toward a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Parton died on Aug. 25 after a cancer battle she had kept private. She was 80. Less than a month later, her estate fired Seaver, who had served as head of her security, and who was the one to announce her death publicly on social media.
A Tennessee judge subsequently issued a temporary restraining order against Seaver and his security company, requiring them to stay at least 1,000 feet from Parton’s offices in Nashville and barring any interference with her business operations.
In the lawsuit filed in September, Nozell alleged that Seaver had tried to extort money from him and had threatened him, beginning a few weeks before Parton’s death. The suit claimed Seaver invoked what it described as his “self-proclaimed military-contractor experience, access to weapons, and capacity for violence” in making demands for money.
According to the filing, Seaver allegedly warned, “All I do is warfare … everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.” Another message attributed to him in the suit read: “Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to f–k everyone. I am about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family.”
Seaver has denied the allegations. In a statement to TMZ, he said his messages were taken out of context, adding, “Nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.”
