process

Dolly Parton’s estate is alleging that Bryan Seaver, the country icon’s nephew and former head of security, used a “no trespassing” sign and barbed wire to avoid being served legal documents.

There is an active restraining order and lawsuit against Seaver by Parton’s company, She’s Alive LLC, which is run by Parton’s former manager, Danny Nozell, for allegedly threatening and extorting her estate.

Seaver served as Parton’s head of security for more than 20 years and, on Aug. 25, delivered the news of his aunt’s death via a video on her Instagram account.

Legal troubles for Seaver first came to light on Sept. 22 when a case was filed by She’s Alive in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville on the heels of Seaver’s termination as head of security. Both Seaver and his company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services LLC, are the defendants in the lawsuit.

In documents reviewed by the New York Times, Seaver is accused of mounting “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” to acquire money from the Parton estate, including a profane threat made toward at least one Dollywood business partner.

Seaver filed a motion last week to delay a hearing scheduled for Friday, saying he needed time to meet with his preferred legal counsel.

The following day, lawyers for She’s Alive asked the court to deny this motion, arguing that Seaver “attempted to evade service of process” and that the “court should not reward that behavior.”

According to court filings obtained by ABC News, a process server tried to issue court documents to Seaver for the third time but encountered a “no-trespassing sign in the front yard and barbed wire draped across the handrails leading to the front door.”

The new hearing date is set for Oct. 20.

The legal complaint includes text messages in which Seaver wrote that he would become “the hand of retribution for my entire family.” According to the complaint, in other text exchanges between him and a longtime lawyer of Parton, he described himself as a “killer,” a term he would later argue was taken out of context.

There are also claims that Seaver began making financial demands before Parton’s death, including in a text to Nozell where he said he would launch a podcast “dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us” if demands were not met, the New York Times reported.

Nozell was Parton’s longtime manager and is credited with reviving the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s international touring career.

The Times reached out to Seaver, Nozelle and She’s Alive LLC but did not hear back.

Leicestershire have had eight points of their 27-point County Championship deduction reinstated but their Division One status remains in limbo.

The original penalty for breaching pitch regulations, relating to their win against Glamorgan in August, was announced on 16 September.

Leicestershire took 19 points from the match against Glamorgan – 16 for winning and three bonus points – which were removed but remain the subject of appeal.

The Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP) had applied an additional eight-point deduction, a further eight-point penalty suspended for a year, plus a £5,000 fine.

The latter two sanctions remain part of the amended decision but the eight-point deduction for this season has been waived because the docking of the 19 points for winning the game in question is considered punishment enough.

Without the 27 points being docked, Leicestershire would have finished two points above the relegation zone.

With the 19-point penalty currently in place, the Foxes are 17 points behind Essex and will be relegated if their appeal is unsuccessful.

The amended punishment comes after the Cricket Regulator raised with the CDP whether the 19-point penalty imposed, after its initial hearing, under the County Championship’s playing conditions had been taken into account when making its original decision.

A section of the County Championship’s playing conditions state that teams charged with producing a pitch rated as poor or below average, and the Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP) upholding the charge, would receive zero points from the fixture in question.

Leicestershire had already stated their intention to appeal against the panel’s decision and a statement by chief executive Emma White said the club’s position is “unchanged” by the amended decision.

More to follow.

Sean Gunn has no plans to continue his motion capture role for “Guardians of the Galaxy” character Rocket raccoon.

The physical demands involved in creating Marvel Cinematic Universe’s masked bandit often included the 52-year-old actor being in a catcher’s crouch position, which hurt his ankles and feet due to constant pivoting, Gunn revealed in an interview on “The Brandon Davis Show.”

“I think it had a little bit of an effect on my physiology. My knees are fine, but since I turned 50 a couple years ago, I am retired from playing Rocket,” Gunn said in the podcast episode published Monday. “I don’t think I can do the motion reference anymore for Rocket. I think I’m too old.”

The veteran actor is now ready to pass on his deadly laser cannon to another rising star. Rocket’s creators should “give a younger actor a shot at it, right?” he said.

While actor Bradley Cooper has voiced the small, sharp-tongued creature since the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” film in 2014, Gunn has worked alongside animators behind the scenes to capture the subtle actions with motion capture technology, or mocap, which animates 2D or 3D computer characters using the actor’s physical movements.

Gunn described the process as a relay race in a 2024 interview with Adam Lupis; once a script is handed to him, he passes the baton to the visual effects team, who then tie it all together with Cooper’s voice acting.

“Rocket is sort of a character by committee in that way. I think he’s a good microcosm for movies where they get this whole community of people coming to make something with love and care,” Gunn shared in the interview with Lupis. “It’s been a crazy process.”

Alongside his role as on-set Rocket, Gunn also portrayed Ravager Clan space pirate Kraglin Obfonteri in “Guardians of the Galaxy”; its two sequels, “Vol. 2” and “Vol. 3”; “Avengers: Endgame”; and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” Rocket also appeared in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War.”