Company says ads weren't placed in phone books

MORGANTOWN -- A Morgantown company has filed suit against Idearc Media Corp. and one of its employees, alleging its paid advertisements were not placed in the yellow pages of West Virginia phone books.

Secure US claims it paid to have its ad in the Huntington, Charleston and Nitro Verizon yellow pages, as well as the Tri-County Companion, according to a complaint filed Sept. 15 in Monongalia Circuit Court.

The company claims it followed the proper steps to place the ad, including submitting an advertising application to Idearc on March 3 and meeting all deadlines.

But Paul Samosky, an Idearc employee who facilitated the transaction, later informed the company the ad had not been published, the suit states.

Secure US has had past problems with Idearc not publishing its advertisements, and Samosky was aware of them, according to the complaint.

"Defendants represented that Secure US would have no problems and that their advertisements would be published," the suit states.

Secure US claims because the ads were not published, it lost profits.

"This failure has caused Secure US, Inc., significant harm due to the fact that it could not utilize a major advertising medium that all its competitors use with great success," the suit states.

Secure US is an alarm service provider based in Morgantown and founded in 1993, according to its Web site.

It provides service to more than 10,000 customers, its site says.

Secure US claims Idearc and Samosky breached their obligations and their duty of care.

It is seeking unspecified actual, compensatory and punitive damages, lost profits, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, attorneys' fees and other relief the court deems proper.

The case was removed to U.S. District Court on Oct. 15 because Secure US and Idearc are citizens of different states and because the amount in question exceeds $75,000.

J. David Fenwick and Victoria L. Wilson of Goodwin and Goodwin in Charleston represent Idearc and Samosky.

B. Gregory Haddad of Bailey and Glasser in Morgantown represents Secure US.

U.S. District Court case number: 1:08-CV-190