Garth Brooks Lawsuit Headed to Court

It's not all good news for Garth Brooks. The country music superstar, who announced he will hit the road this year, and sold out all five of his Comeback Special concert series in Ireland in July, will spend much of this week in court.

The singer is involved in a legal battle with a former employee, Lisa A. Sanderson, over $226,000 that he says was a loan that she has yet to repay. Sanderson, who worked for his movie and TV production company, Red Strokes, Inc., until it closed its doors in 2011, claims the money was a gift, and that she never received any severance or retirement payment from the company, nor did she receive any production fees.

Brooks and Red Strokes filed suit against Sanderson, asking for full restitution, attorney's fees, interest and cost of collection.

According to Nashville's Tennessean, the former employee maintains that the singer gave her the money while she was going through a difficult and costly custody battle over her son Benjamin between 2005 and 2007.

“Mr. Brooks stated in numerous occasions that he too was deeply concerned about Sanderson’s son’s welfare, and for that reason he wanted to take care of any legal fees Sanderson incurred in connection with the custody dispute," a memorandum from her attorney says. "Mr. Brooks reassured Sanderson over and over again that ‘it was all about Ben,' and that Sanderson would never have to repay him for the legal fees.”

The case is scheduled to begin on Tuesday (Feb. 11), and is expected to last three days.

Sanderson has also sued Brooks for close to half a million dollars for unpaid salary and bonuses, plus punitive damages. That case is still pending in California.