Christian Entertainment Promoters|Will Fight It Out In Court

NASHVILLE (CN) - A Nashville management company stole the idea for "Gracie Girls" - three Christian girls led by a guardian angel - to develop its own "Precious Girls" products, the Gracie Girls inventor claims in Federal Court.

Shannon Clemons claims she spent years developing the Gracie Girls - Faith, Hope and Love - "with an emphasis on delivering a moral message and displaying Christian values and also created an angel character that was only visible to the girls for guiding and advising them."

She says she wrote a script for the character, a "pitch book" for a TV series or film, and songs, including "How Can I Be Pretty Now," and "Let God Make You Feel Pretty."

Clemons says she took it all to Ron Smith, who runs Smith Management Partners. She says Smith disparaged the products, said there was no market for them, "said that Christian retail was not selling and the Christian Booksellers Association was going downhill," and told her "that the Christian element needed to be removed from the Gracie Girls and instead the product should include a girl band or something similar so that the concept could be marketed to someone such as Nickelodeon."

Then, Clemons says, Smith swiped her ideas to develop his companies, defendants Precious Moments Co. and Precious Moments Family of Companies. She says Smith also made up a "Precious Girls Club" that is interfering with her marketing of the Gracie Girls.

She demands an injunction and punitive damages for fraud, breach of contract, copyright violations, breach of fiduciary duties and unfair competition. She is represented by John Triggs with Waddey & Patterson.

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