Company sues over stolen wire

HUNTINGTON - More than $150,000 in wire was stolen from an area truck stop, and the company selling the wire is now suing the company who lost the shipment.

Service Wire Company, located in Culloden, filed a suit Feb. 2 against Barboursville-based TLC Expedited Company.

Service Wire sold 19 reels of wire, costing $413,106.12, to Turtle/Hughes-Linden in New Jersey. TLC was contracted to ship the wire from Culloden to Clifton, N.J.

"The wire to be shipped by TLC was to be shipped on two separate tractor trailers," the suit says.

John Anderson picked up the first shipment. James Adkins picked up the second shipment and took it to the Go-Mart near the 29th Street Exit of Interstate 64 in Huntington.

The suit says Adkins detached his trailer and left it in the parking lot of Go-Mart, unsupervised and unsecured.

"The trailer containing the second truckload of wire was subsequently stolen from the aforesaid Go-mart," the suit says.

Two days after he left the load, Adkins called the TLC offices and reporter the trailer had been stolen. The truck contained nine reels of wire, valued at $154,814.

"As a result of the theft of the second truckload of wire, Service Wire was required to resend a second shipment of the wire to Thea and Schoen incurring an additional cost of $154,814," the suit says.

In the suit, Service Wire claims TLC breached the contract between the two, and TLC was responsible for the load of wire.

Service Wire seeks actual damages, as well as punitive damages and court costs.

Matthew J. Perry is representing Service Wire, and the case has been assigned to Cabell Circuit Court Judge John Cummings.

Cabell Circuit Court case number 07-C-108