Tornado Victim: Dealer Used PSA As Free Advertising

In April of 2014, a devastating tornado ripped through Chowan County North Carolina. One result of the disaster was the death of 11-month-old Gavin Soto. Soto’s mother, Ashley Bain, was left without her child. This is when local car dealership Alliance Nissan decided to help out. They ran a reported 1,000 one-minute public service announcements talking about the tragedy and asking individuals donate to Bain’s family. The goodwill gesture, however, has led to legal action.

Bain feels the PSAs forced her to, “relive the terror of Gavin’s death over and over again.” She also felt the spots provided the dealer with a large and free advertising campaign. In the PSA, William Turner, Sales Manager at Alliance encourages the local community to donate to Bain’s family by going to the dealership website. This PSA was not well liked by Bain as she has filed a lawsuit against Alliance Nissan.

According to legal documents obtained by DrivingSales News, the lawsuit alleges deception on the part of Alliance Nissan. The allegation is the dealership never had a method of donation setup on their website, and the family never received any donation money from Alliance Nissan. The suit further alleges the dealership didn’t ask for permission to use Bain’s name or likeness, or that or her deceased son, Gavin, in the PSA. The lawsuit also claims that dealership reps called local media outlets to say that all was well vis-à -vis relations between Bain and Alliance Nissan. In the suit, Bain is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages as well as the creation of a trust for any monies that were donated to her at Alliance Nissan.

Attorney Kevin Rust, who is representing Alliance Nissan in the suit, was quoted by WAVY10 saying the allegations in the lawsuit “are inaccurate and will be denied at the appropriate time, during the litigation.” We will keep an eye on this story for updates as to how it the lawsuit is resolved.