Tire Works wins dismissal, puts the tread to Channel 13 reports

With the state Attorney General’s agreement Tuesday in District Court to dismiss its civil Consumer Affairs Division allegations against Tire Works, the chain of local auto repair shops is cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now its Chief Financial Officer, Roshie Weightman, and attorney Dominic Gentile are clearing the air about what they’re calling exaggerations not only by the state but also by KTNV Channel 13, which broadcast a lengthy series of damning stories about the business.

Weightman focused her ire on KTNV reporter Darcy Spears, saying in a statement she, “didn’t let the facts stand in the way of a story and almost single handedly wrecked a business with 130 employees. It just didn’t matter how good our track record with customers was. This is the type of business that adds customers in an economic downturn but these misguided stories sidetracked our company’s business plans.”

Gentile asked, “Where do you go to get your reputation back? After the smearing that Channel 13 did, that kind of damage lingers even after the prosecuting agency recognized the proper thing to do was to dismiss the case because it simply wasn’t there. The challenge for Tire Works is this: How many people are going to read the disposition of this case? How many people are going to understand the case was dismissed not on some technical notion, but on the facts.”

Faced with a problematic investigation riddled with question marks, the Attorney General’s office volunteered to dismiss. Gentile called AG Catherine Cortez Masto’s decision “the ethical thing to do,” and an example of ethics trumping politics.

Gentile said his client also agreed to dismiss a defamation action against Robin Roques, director of the automotive technology department at College of Southern Nevada used as an expert witness by the state and the television station.

That, in my opinion, was also the right thing to do.