A feud over Dolly Parton’s sprawling estate spilled into the open on Tuesday when her longtime manager accused her nephew and former security detail of threats, extortion and intimidation.
The accusations against the nephew, Bryan Seaver, were made public in a request for a restraining order. It offers a glimpse into a fight over Ms. Parton’s entertainment enterprise, including the Dollywood amusement park and her Songteller hotel and Life of Many Colors museum that is set to open this month.
Mr. Seaver, who delivered the news of Ms. Parton’s death from cancer in a filmed video last month, is accused of mounting “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” to obtain money from the Parton estate, according to the court papers.
In text messages included in the court papers, someone identified as Mr. Seaver issued a profane threat against at least one Dollywood business partner. He wrote that he would become “the hand of retribution for my entire family,” according to the complaint.
“I’m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer,” Mr. Seaver wrote in a separate email in which he requested to get dinner with a longtime lawyer of Ms. Parton’s, according to the complaint.
The request for a restraining order was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville by She’s Alive, a corporation responsible for overseeing Ms. Parton’s many business endeavors. It is run by Danny Nozell, her longtime manager.
Mr. Seaver and his outside security company had long overseen protection for Ms. Parton and her properties. According to the complaint, “it was important to her to employ her family members when they had skill sets compatible with her business needs.”
The court papers say he was fired last week and ask for a restraining order that would keep him away from the properties and staff. Ms. Parton’s company also filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Seaver of tortious interference.
Mr. Seaver did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for the company overseeing Ms. Parton’s businesses declined to comment further.
The court filing was earlier reported by TMZ.
Ms. Parton successfully leveraged her musical prowess and stardom into a multi-pronged business, most notably with Dollywood, located near her hometown in east Tennessee. Even after her death, it has continued to barrel forward: In addition to the hotel and museum, a line of dolls and a coffee brand are also being introduced this month.
Mr. Seaver claimed an extensive amount of military experience and dealings abroad, according to the complaint. It said his operation “was not a conventional office-security operation; it was a heavily armed, paramilitary-style force.”
That was in part why Mr. Nozell and other business associates said they had grown unsettled as Mr. Seaver began making demands, starting just before Ms. Parton’s death. One lawyer representing the Parton estate and trust quit after receiving “harassing and ominous threats” from Mr. Seaver in a phone call, according to the filing. Some staff members have resigned, it said, while others have hired private security.
Mr. Seaver told Mr. Nozell, according to the text messages, that he would “set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us.”
“It’s going to be great,” Mr. Seaver wrote.
“Or pay me,” he added, punctuating the demand with an expletive.
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