Dolly Parton’s longtime manager, Danny Nozell, has filed a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit he had brought against her nephew, Bryan Seaver.
The move arrives just days ahead of what was expected to be a dramatic courtroom showdown, with Nozell contending that Seaver threatened Parton’s business empire in the wake of her death.
The dismissal notice, filed on Thursday, states that Nozell and his lawyers are dropping the claims without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of bringing them again in the future, according to Rolling Stone.
The dispute between the two men emerged into public view in September when Nozell sued Seaver in the Nashville Chancery Court, accusing him of waging an “obscene, deliberate, and escalating campaign of threats” designed to create “fear and chaos to extort money for his personal gain.”
Nozell, who worked with and managed Parton for roughly twenty years, serves as the sole manager of She’s Alive, the company that runs the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee and the SongTeller hotel in Nashville, which houses a museum dedicated to the Jolene singer.
Seaver, the son of Parton’s sister Cassie, vehemently denied threatening anyone and argued that Nozell had taken his remarks—made during his period of mourning after Parton’s death—out of context to discredit him.
