Alaskan Bush People star Billy Brown‘s estate is reportedly facing a lawsuit from a Tennessee doctor. Robert Maughon is suing the estate and Brown’s Alaskan Wilderness Family Productions for alleged breach of contract. Brown died on Feb. 7 at age 68, after suffering a seizure at the family’s home in Washington.
Maughon filed his lawsuit on April 27, reports The Sun. Maughon claims he signed a contract with Brown on Jan. 6, 2009, and invested $20,000. He claims Brown agreed to pay 10% of income from the publication and sales of books written by Brown and published by Alaska Wilderness Family Productions. The payments were supposed to come over the decade following the date the contract was signed. However, the plaintiff claims he never saw the money.
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Maughon claims there was a second contract between himself and Brown signed on Jan. 25, 2009, claiming he invested $10,000 to receive a 10% cut of all Alaska Wilderness Family Production works for the rest of his life. Brown agreed to pay Maughon 10% of “the gross income of Alaska Wilderness Family Productions from the creative works of Billy Bryan Brown, specifically including books, movies, television, and documentaries,” the lawsuit reads. “Billy Bryan Brown and [the business] have failed to pay to Plaintiff the monies called for in the Lifetime contract.”
The plaintiff believes he is entitled to as much as $500,000. Maughon estimates that Brown earned $500,000 per episode of Alaskan Bush People. The lawsuit includes the alleged contracts, which Maughon claims has Brown’s signature on them. He also filed a creditor’s claim in Brown’s estate case. Brown’s estate has not commented. A lawyer for Brown’s widow, Ami Brown, did not respond to The Sun‘s request for comment.
Last month, Ami, 57, requested to be the personal representative for Brown’s estate, since there “no valid will” was discovered after Brown’s death. According to Washington court papers obtained by The Sun, Ami listed Brown’s assets at $439,000, with $415,000 of that coming from four parcels of land. Ami also claimed Brown owed $27,000 in medical bills so his estate was worth an estimated $412,000. The documents also listed Brown’s official cause of death: “probable cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease.”
Alaskan Bush People debuted in May 2014 and finished its 12th season in October 2020. Discovery aired a special tribute to Brown in February. He was survived by Ami, their seven children, and three grandchildren. His youngest daughter, Rain Brown, told fans she “lost a true friend” after her father’s death. “Please hold my family in your thoughts and prayers, especially my mother. Please hold your family tight for me. Words cannot express how wonderful he was and is,” Rain wrote on Instagram. “But I will say, the closest thing to an angel I’ve ever known. God bless you da I love and miss you dearly. You will always be my hero. God bless everyone.”
