A local mystery novelist has filed a $30 million lawsuit against her former lawyer and an Arizona State University associate professor, allegedly that they embezzled money from a movie production company to buy Sugar Daddy's nightclub in Scottsdale.

Each side in the dispute accuses the other of being responsible for killing production of a movie based on Sylvia Nobel-Williams' book "Deadly Sanctuary." Both sides say they worry the dispute will give a black eye to the fledgling film industry in Arizona.

Nobel-Williams, author of the Kendall O'Dell series of novels, filed suit in Maricopa County Superior Court in March, alleging that Mark Briggs, a partner in the Quarles & Brady law firm, and Chris LaMont, co-founder of the Phoenix Film Festival and ASU associate film professor, misappropriated $810,000 from Castle Valley Films, a company the three had created to produce the movie. She is also seeking to have Briggs disbarred.

Nobel-Williams claims Briggs funneled the money through another corporation, which then provided it to Sugar Operations, a company Briggs created to buy Sugar Daddy's nightclub, 3102 N. Scottsdale Road, last September. The nightclub's bill of sale states the club was sold for $582,000 on Sept. 26. Liquor license applications list the new owners as Mark and Eric Briggs and Jacqui Allen.

According to the lawsuit, Briggs withdrew $560,000 from the production company's account on the day he bought Sugar Daddy's. Nobel-Williams said the money eventually was returned to investors, who would not agree to reinvest in the film because of the dispute.

"It's completely dead. Briggs and LaMont killed the project," she said.

She is seeking damages in excess of $30 million for lost book revenue, lost investors, loss of potential profits from the film, damage to her reputation and other expenses, according to a statement from her publicist, Ron Meritt.

While Briggs said his ability to comment on the case was limited by his role as a lawyer, a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed in April calls the claims "false and outrageous." The money was paid back to the production company on time, along with more than $50,000 in interest, according to the motion.

LaMont said Briggs was authorized as managing partner in the production company to make the loans, and that Nobel-Williams was a minority partner.

"The problem is she's in no place to tell us how to run the business. She's a minority member of the (corporation)," LaMont said.

Moreover, he blamed Nobel-Williams for the film's failure, saying she filed suit when she realized she didn't have complete control, causing the rift that led to the production company's dissolution and the refunding of money to investors.

"She filed a lawsuit and killed the movie," LaMont said. "If there was no lawsuit, we'd be going along happily on our way."

Nobel-Williams, who has lived in Phoenix since 1961, said the movie was slated to be filmed in Phoenix and Wickenburg. Her novels are fictionalized from local news stories, she said. But now she worries that the dispute could dissuade others from attempting to shoot films in Arizona.

"I deliberately set it here because I wanted to showcase the state," she said. "This is the most disturbing, most distressing, crushing event of my life."

LaMont, who has produced independent films here, said he spent three years working with Nobel-Williams on the screenplay. The lawsuit is bad for Arizona's movie industry, and could make local filmmakers look unprofessional, he said.