Singer Chely Wright sues Nashville law firm

Country star asserts she was negligently represented in California lawsuit -- but quickly retracts some claims
POSTSCRIPT added 9:12 a.m., Thursday 14 Dec., regarding comments by ally of Gil Cabot

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

Chely Wright

12-13-2006 3:59 PM —

Chely Wright, the country singer known for such hits as "Single White Female" and "The Bumper of My S.U.V.," has filed suit against the Nashville-based law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis and one of its partners, litigator Paul Davidson, claiming they were negligent when representing her in a lawsuit against West Coast talent agent Gil Cabot.

Yet today, six days after filing her complaint in Davidson County Circuit Court, Wright has withdrawn some of its allegations. Her attorney, Tony Duncan of Franklin, filed a "notice of partial voluntary dismissal" that drops "all claims based upon emotional distress and legal malpractice" in the original lawsuit. Both documents are available at this link.

The complaint does not use the word "malpractice," and so it's not evident which claims Wright still asserts. Duncan declined to comment on the case when reached this morning. His filing came within hours after NashvillePost.com informed him and Davidson that a story about the case would be forthcoming.

As initally filed, the complain accuses Davidson and the firm of "negligently advising" Wright, "losing documents and audio tapes" furnished by Wright that would have helped her case, and "failing to advise Ms. Wright of the ramifications of certain actions they advised her to take during the course of the lawsuit." It asserts that as a result of these wrongs, Wright faced "additional, exorbitant, excessive, and unnecessary legal fees" and other costs, as well as emotional distress.

The complaint contains no information on the venue or outcome of Wright's lawsuit against Gil Cabot, and NashvillePost.com has been able to learn only that it transpired in California. Cabot is a veteran talent agent and television producer with an interesting past: He served prison terms for grand theft in the 1980s and attempted extortion in the 1990s, the latter conviction arising out of a scheme to force a Los Angeles TV anchorwoman to pay $30,000 by claiming to have a sexually explicit videotape of her.

Cabot has not returned a call for this story.

Davidson, a Vanderbilt law graduate who also holds an LL.M. degree from University College London, moved to Waller in 2005 after 20 years at Stokes Bartholomew Evans & Petree (now Adams and Reese). In his career, he has handled a number of high-profile litigation cases involving the entertainment industry and information technology. He represented Franklin-based healthcare IT firm AIM Healthcare in its epic legal battle against rival Arbor Healthcare, which ended in a settlement last March.

Ralph Davis, chairman of Waller Lansden, issued the following response on behalf of Davidson and the firm: "Paul Davidson is an exceptionally talented and dedicated lawyer. Ms. Wright was fortunate to have him representing her interests in this matter. While it is regrettable that this complaint was even filed, we're confident that it will be quickly resolved."

POSTSCRIPT added 9:12 a.m., Thursday 14 Dec. 2006:

A certain Jeff Willins has posted a comment to this story protesting its mention of the criminal convictions of Gilbert A. Cabot, the California television producer with whom Chely Wright was involved in litigation in which Waller's Paul Davidson was representing her.

NashvillePost.com reserves the right to edit or delete comments posted by our readers. In this instance, we have edited the comment to remove assertions of fact about Chely Wright that we cannot confirm at this time. We have not removed the entire comment, which contains assertions about our reporting that we take very seriously.

We wish to make a few facts known:

Multiple attempts to reach Mr. Gil Cabot at the only telephone number available for him, in Malibu, were unsuccessful prior to the publication of this story. There was no answer at that number.
The Los Angeles Daily News reported a story headlined "Anchorwoman Extortion Try Gets Talent Agent 5-Year Term" on 18 September 1990. It began: "A Sunset Strip talent agent was sentenced Monday to five years in state prison for attempting to extort $30,000 from KTLA-TV news anchorwoman Jann Carl by claiming to have a sexually explicit videotape of her. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor imposed the maximum sentence on Gilbert A. Cabot, who was found guilty in July of conspiracy and attempted extortion in connection with a June 10, 1988, meeting with Carl." The article concluded by noting that court records showed Cabot as having been convicted in 1981 of seven felony counts, including grand theft, and sentenced to six years in prison. (News database searches turned up several other accounts of the 1990 case, none with any indication of subsequent error correction.)
Los Angeles County Superior Court records obtained by NashvillePost.com include the following entry: "Name: CABOT, GILBERT ALFRED / Case Number XSONA032899-01 / Charge Code 524 PC / ATTEMPTED EXTORTION / Guilty/Convicted."

As noted in the comment by Jeff Willins, Gil Cabot discusses aspects of the case that led to his 1990 conviction at his website, GilCabot.com. We refer our readers there for further information.

rogerpavia States:

Posted on 12/14/2006 2:04 am

It would be refreshing for someone like you to not take the lazy way out, obviously writing things taken directly from other articles which are not only over 20 years old, but stories that were corrected after they were initially published.

Though he works with other independent companies as well as ours, depending on the project and availability, my production company has been assigned to various highly successful projects with multi-award-winning entertainment packager Gil Cabot since 1972. Never has he ever been a "talent agent"(a lie from an old article that you have now re-lied about); Mr. Cabot was not convicted of extortion(another lie you have re-lied about) when the charge was actually "conspiracy" for the mistake of having a meeting in his office, after Mr. Cabot loaned the money to pay off the real extortionist, all of which is covered at www.gilcabot.com; and Chely Wright did not file a lawsuit against Gil Cabot(a new lie you have now told) when it was Mr. Cabot who sued Ms. Wright... [unverifiable assertion about Ms. Wright removed by editor]

On a totally unrelated TV movie project, our production team just flew in to Knoxville this evening and we heard about your website of lies. I also have talked with Paul Berg, who operates Mr. Cabot's very successful celebrity damage control public relations company (www.arrestedmedia.com) and caught you in another lie. You never called Gil Cabot's office. You only left a message at the P.R. office looking for a copy of the original lawsuit. Everything said by you about Gil Cabot is absolutely a lie! Also, like Mr. Berg told you, your piece was supposed to be about Ms. Wright suing her former attorney. Using over 20 year old garbage about Mr. Cabot was nothing more than the lowest of cheap shots, especially when Gil has a tremenduous track record of success and assists so many charities along the way!

My production company has direct knowledge of Gil's work for Chely because we were formatting an infomercial package for her... [unverifiable assertions about Ms. Wright removed by editor]

Again, it would be refreshing if you're going to be telling stories to at least tell the truth.

Jeff Willins, Sr. Executive Producer

Roger Pavia Film TV

rogerpavia States:

Posted on 12/14/2006 12:11 pm

We have a major network TV movie production to focus on, but since you have now lied about me(and our company) I will take this final step to correct your patently false label of being an "ally" of Gil Cabot. We are an independent company that has made open budget bids on a number of Mr. Cabot's projects, and over the many years of our doing business with Mr. Cabot's very professional and successful team, one of those projects was an infomercial package for a clothing line through Mr. Cabot's StarWright Entertainment partnership with Chely Wright. That's what made it possible for us to give you exact information about the absolute fact that it was Mr. Cabot who had to sue Ms. Wright for breaching their contract.

Our understanding, from listening to the audio loop of you and Paul Berg; you repeatedly asked for any information on the lawsuit filed by Mr. Cabot against Ms. Wright in Los Angeles, and that's exactly what I gave you. Correct information!

If anyone is suspect of the "ally" label it seems to be you, after you edited the most critical and important TRUTHFUL information about the lawsuit, and action taken against Ms. Wright and was resolved by a COURT ORDER for Ms. Wright to pay Mr. Cabot. That is the truth!

Your repeating articles that were wrong in the first place is no less the lie that the world was told about WMD. Mr. Cabot has built tremendous success through his celebrity damage control(www.arrestedmedia.com) services, guiding others who are brutally and wrongfully portrayed in media coverage, just as Mr. Cabot was years ago and as you're attempting to do now. The difference now is, with the great success of his crisis media P.R. company your raking over old news just shores up and promotes Mr. Cabot's services.

One last thought, you say(now) that no one answered his number in Malibu, something that is quite different than you falsely claiming(at first)that "Cabot has not returned a call for this story." How can someone return a call when that person doesn't even know you're calling!

If you want to keep the truth from your readers by editing things so they favor Chely Wright, then that's your readers' ignorance if they choose to pay attention to anything you say. They deserve to get the TRUTH. None of this seems to matter to any of Mr. Cabot's offices that we've talked to, except that your ramblings actually help the promotion of their www.arrestedmedia.com celebrity services.

Jeff Willins, Sr. Executive Producer

Roger Pavia Film TV

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