Sand Mountain Reporter

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Tennessee federal court claims AlaTrade LLC owner Davis Lee reneged on a promise to fund a movie.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel will report today that a suit alleges Lee agreed to provide $10 million as part of a project to make a biography about the late country music star Keith Whitley.

Knoxville actor David Keith’s attorneys filed the breach-of-contract lawsuit Wednesday morning in Knoxville.

According to the paper’s account of the suit, Keith and Lee made a deal in December 2005 to create a production company with Lee providing $10 million to finance the movie.

Keith said he began working on the project immediately, hiring casting firms and soundtrack artists. The newspaper says Keith received commitments from musicians Billy Ray Cyrus and J.D. Crowe to be involved in the project.

The suit claims Keith had laid out the storyboard of the film but learned in January 2007 that Lee was pulling out of the project without explanation.

Keith said he was unable to find other financing. He’s now asking a judge to order Lee to follow through with the agreement.

Lee was not in his Guntersville office Wednesday afternoon, and the company referred a call to attorney Joe Leak. Leak said he didn’t want to comment until he had seen a copy of the lawsuit.

Gregory P. Isaacs, a Knoxville attorney representing Keith, did not immediately return a call Wednesday afternoon.

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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