Opinion ID: 2437315
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Difficulties between Craddock and Morris

Text: Toward the end of 1980 E.L. McBride, the manager of Alabama, was imprisoned for an alleged fraudulent real estate transaction, unrelated to any of the parties involved in the present case. The record indicates that the members of Alabama were concerned because their manager had been incarcerated. It was difficult for him to attend to their affairs in that situation. During the early part of 1981 Dale Morris attempted to assist Alabama and a designee of McBride who was temporarily acting as their manager. During this time the relationship between Morris and Craddock became strained. Near the end of 1980 or in early 1981 Craddock ceased to remit booking commissions to the Nashville office of IHT. He began to deposit them in a separate IHT account in Greensboro. Morris testified that he had difficulty in contacting Craddock or talking with him, and that he was usually able to reach Craddock only through an intermediary. In February 1981 he made a trip to Greensboro to meet with Craddock to discuss their situation and also to determine whether Craddock intended to renew his management contract with Morris, which expired at the end of May 1981. Craddock testified that at this meeting Morris threatened that if the management agreement were not renewed, he would take Alabama and walk. Morris denied making this statement, but he did admit that relationships between the two men were no longer harmonious. Shortly after Morris returned to Nashville, Craddock terminated the power of attorney which Morris held under their management contract, and in April 1981 he notified Morris that the management agreement would not be renewed. In March 1981 Morris entered into an exclusive arrangement to manage Alabama, and from that time until the trial he served in that capacity. He continued, however, to book both Craddock and Alabama through IHT. There are now no claims of actual misappropriation of funds by Morris through May 28, 1981. Such misappropriation was suggested in correspondence from Craddock to Morris, however, in March 1981. On or about April 22, 1981, Morris caused two suits to be filed against Craddock in the Chancery Court at Nashville. One of these was brought on behalf of the corporation, asserting that Craddock had failed to pay booking fees to the company. This suit was later dismissed on the ground that Morris had no authority from the corporation to maintain it. The other suit charged Craddock with failure to pay management fees to Morris. Craddock counterclaimed for damages. Inasmuch as Morris became the manager of Alabama in March 1981, in violation of his exclusive arrangement with Craddock, the trial judge held that the damages sustained by Craddock were at least equal to the management fees withheld. No award was made to either party at a trial held in 1982. [3] The filing of these two actions in April 1981, at a minimum, was not calculated to conciliate Craddock, upon whom Morris had previously been largely dependent, or to ease the tension in their relationship. In a letter dated April 24, 1981, Craddock demanded to see the books and records of IHT. Early in May Morris caused substantial funds to be drawn out of a corporate escrow account and placed in a special account on which only he could draw. Checks were written on this account to pay artists and to defray expenses incidental to their booking.