Lance Martin, Herald Senior Staff Writer

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ROANOKE RAPIDS - The city should legally be able to join a lawsuit filed against Randy Parton and his associates, said the attorney who filed the case for a city businessman.

This despite a clause in the city's February compact with Parton which paid him $750,000 and bars the city from suing the brother of country music star Dolly Parton, who was the one-time manager and headliner of what is now The Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

Under a section of the settlement titled “Releases,” the city agreed to not sue or demand arbitration from anyone involved with operation of the venue while it was under Parton's control.

Jeanette Doran, senior staff attorney for the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Roanoke Rapids resident Jim Garrett, questions the deal's validity.

She believes the final say is up to the courts. “There are certainly instances which have either been set aside or interpreted as non-necessarily precluding all subsequent litigation,” she said. “The validity of the settlement agreement is far from a foregone conclusion.”

Roanoke Rapids City Attorney Gilbert Chichester, who said early last week the city was studying the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The settlement with Parton came more than two months after the entertainer was escorted from the venue in December, then bearing his name, by police for allegedly being too intoxicated to perform.

Operation was then turned over to a management company and then to the city, which is considering a contract with the owner of the Carolina Opry, Calvin Gilmore.

The lawsuit, which was filed June 19, is the latest issue arising from the struggling theater.

It demands Parton, Rick Watson and Earnest Pearson pay the city back at least the $21.5 million in bond money the city used to build the theater.

Doran said the Institute has not approached the lawsuit as a class action.

“I have spoken with and been in communication with numerous individuals who have expressed support of the lawsuit and joining the lawsuit,” she said.

Garrett said about a dozen people have e-mailed him and expressed support for the city joining the lawsuit.

He said he is pleased with those who have showed their support. “I would say that's good. I would like it to be a hundred.” Meanwhile, Doran said she believes Garrett has legal standing to file the lawsuit. “If we doubted his standing, we would not have brought this lawsuit. We anticipate the defendants will argue that.”