Court documents lodged in a Nashville court on Tuesday local time seek to keep Bryan Seaver away from the employees and dealings of She's Alive, the company that manages Parton's businesses and properties. According to the filings, She's Alive — run by Parton's long-time manager Danny Nozell — terminated Seaver and his security firm, Squadron Augmented Protection Services, last week, citing what it called his "terrorizing conduct."
Seaver, the son of Parton's sister Cassie, owned the company that provided Parton's security for the last 20 years of her life and was hand-picked by the star to announce her death in August. The court documents allege that beginning before Parton's death and continuing afterward, Seaver sent a series of threatening messages.
In one text message dated September 1 and included in the filing, Seaver is alleged to have written: "I'm going to 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. Or f——— pay me." The messages also depict Seaver calling himself an "international arms dealer" and claiming experience working for private military contractors during the Iraq war as part of his threats, according to the complaint.
The estate alleges that Seaver's conduct has already had consequences: Parton's trusts and estates attorney has left, employees of She's Alive have resigned, and the entity has been forced to hire private security.
Seaver has denied the claims. In a statement to TMZ, he said that the text messages and emails quoted in the case had been taken out of context to make it look like he was threatening people. "Nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by," he said. "A lot of these messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while we were grieving."
Last week, after his firing, Seaver and his company described the dismissal as "unexpected" and "unexplained," adding: "We refuse to be intimidated by those whose actions we believe are being taken in bad faith and with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much."
The legal action marks the first public sign of discord in what had been a carefully managed estate process for one of the most beloved figures in country music. The court will now decide whether to grant the restraining order.