On Tuesday afternoon country singer Sara Evans and her ex-husband Craig Schelske returned to the Williamson County Chancery Court in Franklin, Tennessee. It was the initial hearing regarding an injunction that prevents Schelske from talking about Sara Evans, her divorce attorney John Hollins, Sr., and their divorce.
Schelske asked the court to lift the temporary injunction so that he can speek freely in public about his side of the couple's divorce. Evans claims that Schelske has violated the injunction and should see jail time. Judge Jeff R. Bivins said that he will consider all information pertinent to the case and make his ruling at a later date. Both Evans and Schelske will have to return to court for Judge Bivins' ruling.
"We are hopeful that Mr. Schelske will be granted a fair ruling," said Mitchell Keller, publicist for Craig Schelske. "At this time our client has no comment concerning this matter."
Tuesday's hearing was the latest round in ongoing legal battles between the former spouses. On May 17 the same judge struck down Schelske's request for more parenting time with his children while Evans is on tour this summer in support of her latest album Stronger. Two nannies who had worked for the couple were set to appear on Schelske's behalf, but upon the court's discovery of those witnesses they were dismissed from the court room without testifying.
The judge dismissed Schelske's motion without prejudice, meaning he is free to file it again at a later date.
"Generally speaking the privileged class are treated differently than the average citizen when it comes to public scrutiny and/or legal proceedings," Mitchell Keller noted.
Schelske recently received an apology and settlement from Evans' attorney, John Hollins, Sr. after filing suit over comments that appeared in People magazine.
The story goes back to October of 2006, when Evans and Schelske filed for divorce amid mutual allegations of marital infidelity. Hollins' initial filing claimed, among other things, that Schelske maintained extensive computer files that depicted him engaging in sexual intercourse with multiple other women that included the family's former nanny, Alison Clinton Lee (who was one of the witnesses dismissed from court on May 17). Schelske denied the charges, but in a statement to People magazine Hollins said, "Everything we allege, we've got photographs to back up."
Hollins was subsequently unable to produce any of the alleged photographs, and the couple settled their divorce out of court. In 2009 Sara Evans settled a defamation lawsuit with Lee for a reported $500,000. Hollins gave Schelske an undisclosed settlement in March of this year, followed by a public apology in May.
Under the terms of a confidentiality agreement with Evans, as well as the temporary injunction he is seeking to have lifted, Schelske is currently barred from correcting public misperceptions surrounding the story. He believes that, along with his lack of time with the children, is damaging their relationship.
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