UPDATED: This story has been updated and corrected to reflect Terry Persell is a candidate in the Limestone County license commissioner’s race, not Lynn Persell as previously reported. The News Courier apologizes for the confusion and is pleased to set the record straight.

The daughter of a local television personality has filed a civil invasion of privacy lawsuit to protect the privacy of her young daughter, records show.

Abigail Cooper, the 34-year-old daughter of Jamie Cooper of Jamie Cooper Television, filed the suit on June 1, just days after a cease-and-desist letter was sent to Jamie and his wife, Gloria Cooper. Gloria is running for Limestone County license commissioner and appears on today’s Republican primary ballot.

The lawsuit alleges the Coopers have been using the likeness of their young granddaughter (who The News Courier did not name) to promote their television company and Gloria Cooper’s run for public office without the consent of Abigail Cooper.

The cease-and-desist letter was sent by Abigail Cooper’s attorney, Michael Lambert, in late May and was received by Jamie and Gloria Cooper on May 24. Gloria Cooper on Monday said she had no issue with removing her stepgranddaughter’s likeness from campaign materials, but television ads had already been scheduled and she received the letter too late to re-edit the ad before it aired.

In Gloria Cooper’s campaign advertisement, there is a photo of Abigail Cooper’s young daughter wearing a Gloria Cooper for license commission T-shirt.

Lambert said his client asked the Cooper’s to stop using her daughter’s likeness in a private meeting. He acknowledged Abigail Cooper previously worked for Jamie Cooper Television.

“When that failed, and when trying to be nice failed, she had me send them a letter,” Lambert said. “We gave them a week because we wanted to be reasonable.”

He said when it was obvious nothing had changed in regard to Gloria Cooper’s campaign ads, the decision was made to “pull the trigger” on the cease-and-desist letter.

“They upped the ante … and that is not OK,” Lambert said, adding the commercials in question were used on television and social media. “I just wish they had quietly taken the stuff down.”

Gloria Cooper said she felt the lawsuit is politically motivated, based on a number of factors. She believes Abigail Cooper is supporting Republican candidate Joseph Cannon in the license commissioner race. Gloria Cooper also pointed out Lambert is a member of the Limestone County Republican Executive Committee and may be supporting either Cannon or candidate Terry Persell over her.

Lambert said Abigail Cooper’s lawsuit has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the law and what it says about parental consent. The lawsuit claims the state’s “commercial appropriation invasion-of-privacy tort protects both commercial and psychological interests” of plaintiffs.

“(Gloria Cooper) could have pulled out of the race and this would have still been filed because (Jamie Cooper) is using his granddaughter’s image as a business advertisement,” Lambert said. “(Jamie and Gloria can post pictures of their granddaughter on their personal (social media), but when they do advertisement, it draws a line.”

Gloria Cooper said she was saddened by the lawsuit and hopes her family can heal.

“We mean no harm to our granddaughter or daughter,” she said. “We’d like to be a family.”