Dolly Parton’s estate has filed a subpoena seeking bodycam footage of an alleged “altercation” between her nephew Bryan Seaver and police at the hospital on the day she died.
Seaver, Parton’s former head of security, is currently battling a lawsuit from the singer’s estate (She’s Alive LLC) over accusations that he tried to extort money with text messages threatening violence following Parton’s death in August.
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On Wednesday (Oct. 28), the estate filed a subpoena to Vanderbilt University, seeking “all body worn camera footage” for officers at Vanderbilt Medical Center from Aug. 24 into early Aug. 25 — the day Parton passed at that hospital. The court filing, obtained by Billboard, says the footage shows “Seaver’s altercation with police,” but offers no other details on the alleged incident.
Attorneys for both sides did not return requests Thursday (Oct. 29) for comment on the subpoena. A spokesperson for Vanderbilt, where the subpoena was sent, also did not return a request for comment.
The new filing is the latest escalation in the nasty litigation that cropped up weeks after the iconic country singer passed away at the age of 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
She’s Alive, her estate company run by longtime manager Danny Nozell, sued Seaver last month, accusing him of trying to extort money by sending violent threats like “I’m a killer” and “all I do is warfare.” The court quickly issued a temporary restraining order, barring Seaver from further contact while the case plays out.
Seaver has denied threatening anyone and said his words have been taken “out of context.” In a response filing in court earlier this month, his lawyers said the estate had misrepresented an “ultimately friendly exchange between two longtime friends” into a “claim of terror” in order to haul him into court over a business dispute.
“What [She’s Alive] actually fears is speech: Mr. Seaver’s stated wish to tell his family’s story on a podcast, to go to Billboard Magazine, and to ’embarrass’ a business partner he believed was mistreating his family,” write Seaver’s lawyers, Dominic Leonardo and James Collier. “Those are not threats of violence. They are expressions protected by the First Amendment.”
A key preliminary hearing in the case is set for Nov. 10.
