Naomi Judd‘s former manager has filed a lawsuit against the late singer’s estate, alleging he’s still owed money from a television special he was involved in more than 20 years ago.
In a legal filing the Blast obtained, the late Country Music Hall of Famer’s former personal manager, Michael P. Dolan, says he earned “a 6% gross revenue commission for my personal management and executive producer services rendered in connection with The Judds’ Reunion ‘Power to Change’ CBS special that was taped for broadcast on April 7, 2000, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.”
According to Dolan’s filing, Judd’s business manager subsequently acknowledged his services and commission structure in writing in May of 2000, and he and the Judds terminated their contract that September. He says he “offered to resolve all of my outstanding rights, interests, and claims arising from my participation and executive producer activities with the Decedent and her business manager, Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy in Nashville, TN, but the Decedent declined to purchase my rights, interests or claims at that time.”
Dolan says he received payment of $33,750 for his participation in the special, but he has not received any “additional payments, compensation, royalties or distributions from the worldwide distribution, exploitation, display, broadcast, or streaming of the CBS Special” in the years since then. He is seeking to “obtain proper payment, compensation, royalty, or distribution for any such activities by [Naomi Judd] prior to her unfortunate death on April 30, 2022, or from her Estate as to any such future exploitations.”
Dolan’s legal filing requests an accounting “to determine any and all monies or revenue that has been received from any exploitation of the CBS Special since August 14, 2000,” and asks that the accounting be provided to him. Judd’s estate has not commented on the lawsuit.
Naomi Judd died by suicide on April 30, 2022, just one day before she and her daughter, Wynonna Judd, were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame for their groundbreaking work in the Judds. The Judds matriarch died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after decades of struggling with mental illness.
Wynonna Judd decided to honor the duo’s commitment to the Judds Final Tour, which they announced before Naomi Judd’s death. She invited a string of female guests to join her on stage for the tour, which became a smash success as she honored her mother’s legacy in the live shows.
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