A former state Supreme Court justice and a former congressional candidate are suing a company that produces phone books, claiming it botched their ad in its latest directory.
In addition to wrongly listing Hunter instead of Callaghan, the Charleston-Kanawha version misstates the services that the new firm offers, the suit contends.
"Now, for an entire year, the staff of Neely & Callaghan must take calls for Roger D. Hunter and waste its time properly referring those calls to the correct firm," the suit states.
The office manager asked to see a proof - or a draft version created for proofreading purposes - of the ad, but was told that Idearc doesn't do that anymore, according to the suit.
On top of the mistake, Idearc libeled Neely and Callaghan by filing a false statement to credit reporting agencies that the lawyers failed to pay for the ad, when the corporation knew that it had breached its contract with them and no debt was owed, the suit alleges.
"[Idearc's] regular course of conduct is to extort money from wronged customers after [it] has breached its contract by threatening to refuse to publish further advertisements in its quasi-monopoly telephone directories if wronged customers fail to pay charges for contracts that were nonetheless breached," the suit states.
The lawsuit seeks a maximum of $75,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, not including interest and court costs.
To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.
A former state Supreme Court justice and a former congressional candidate are suing a company that produces phone books, claiming it botched their ad in its latest directory.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court, law partners Richard Neely and Michael Callaghan maintain that Idearc Media Corp., a Delaware firm, negligently ran an ad for Neely's former firm, Neely & Hunter, in place of the correct ad for Neely & Callaghan.
According to the Secretary of State's Web site, Verizon Directories Corp. changed its name to Idearc, which is headquartered in Texas, in 2006.
The suit notes that both partners have established relatively high profiles. Neely is a Yale Law School graduate, former chief justice and author of numerous books, and Callaghan is a former federal prosecutor, Secretary for the Environment under Gov. Bob Wise and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2006.
"Neely & Callaghan does not advertise in the greater Charleston area because the lawyers are well known," the suit states. "The primary vehicle for connecting clients with Neely & Callaghan is the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory prepared by [the] defendant."
The partnership between Neely and Roger Hunter ended in May 2007, according to the suit. According to the State Bar's Web site, Hunter is now with the firm Spilman Thomas & Battle.
Six months later, Neely & Callaghan's office manager placed an order with Idearc, the suit claims.
While the correct ad ran in the Teays Valley edition, an outdated ad for the defunct firm Neely & Hunter appeared in the Charleston-Kanawha edition, the suit maintains.
In addition to wrongly listing Hunter instead of Callaghan, the Charleston-Kanawha version misstates the services that the new firm offers, the suit contends.
"Now, for an entire year, the staff of Neely & Callaghan must take calls for Roger D. Hunter and waste its time properly referring those calls to the correct firm," the suit states.
The office manager asked to see a proof - or a draft version created for proofreading purposes - of the ad, but was told that Idearc doesn't do that anymore, according to the suit.
On top of the mistake, Idearc libeled Neely and Callaghan by filing a false statement to credit reporting agencies that the lawyers failed to pay for the ad, when the corporation knew that it had breached its contract with them and no debt was owed, the suit alleges.
"[Idearc's] regular course of conduct is to extort money from wronged customers after [it] has breached its contract by threatening to refuse to publish further advertisements in its quasi-monopoly telephone directories if wronged customers fail to pay charges for contracts that were nonetheless breached," the suit states.
The lawsuit seeks a maximum of $75,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, not including interest and court costs.
To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.
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This is the high dollar attorney that a person is to hire/ wh o is Idearc? There not a big powerful company, they are a failing yellow Page publisher that Verizon spun off a while back.
What an absolute joke that a news paper would print this story.
Newspapers are dieing and they attack other competitors anytime they can and Idearc is a competitor.
another example of West virgina looking like idiots becasue a newspaper would even allow this article be wriiten
Being on the WV supreme court is as good as being in the Student council in 8th grade.
notice on this attorney's site there is no email. Do you have internet and will anyone ever se this