Teacher Says NASCAR Got Her Fired

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) - A summer school director claims NASCAR got her fired by lying to her about a video it shot in a school locker room. She says NASCAR Media Group promised it showed her the complete script, which did not contain "any adult content or explicit material," then filmed a hip-hop singer and used explicit, adult material that was not in the script, which cost her the job she had held for 37 years.

Kathryn Taylor also sued Providence Day School, of Charlotte, which fired her shortly after the NASCAR defendants posted the video on YouTube.

The video featured hip-hop singer Betty Grind (Greg Brown), who is not a party to the complaint in Mecklenburg County Court.

Taylor says NASCAR Media asked her for permission to use the boy's locker room in the summer of 2009, as a backdrop for a video. The video was to promote Betty Grind / Greg Brown, a local singer.

Taylor says the NASCAR representatives told her that a "higher up" in NASCAR had a child at the school and had suggested the locker room as a backdrop for the shoot.

Taylor says she investigated the group on the Internet, reviewed its website, and determined it was a legitimate company that was related to NASCAR. Given that the day school's handbook had no restrictions on use of its facilities by third parties during the summer months, she says, she agreed.

She says the production company told her it would shoot extra footage of the school for its own use, and gave her "a copy of the video script and told her that the script contained the entire content for the video".

She says the defendants also told her "that the singer, Betty Grind himself, would not be present on the campus at any time."

But that's not what happened, Taylor says. She says Grind did show up on campus, and that the video, which was posted on YouTube, did not follow the script she had been given, and that it did contain "adult content and explicit material."

Taylor says: "She immediately called NASCAR Media to find out how those explicit scenes made it to the video, because they were clearly outside of the designated script, and in direct contravention to what NASCAR Media had represented to her as the purpose of the video.

"If the true contents of the video as actually produced had been disclosed to Taylor she would not have allowed NASCAR Media access to the PDS campus," she says.

She says she told the school's headmaster what had happened, and "several days later," she was fired.

Taylor seeks punitive damages for negligent representation and unfair and deceptive trade. Named as defendants are Providence Day School and its headmaster, NASCAR Media Group and NASCAR Holdings.

Taylor is represented by Fenton Erwin Jr., with Erwin and Eleazer, of Charlotte.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit