O'FALLON - A woman is accusing a moving company of damaging and stealing her personal property worth approximately $200,000.
Tyanne Mobley has filed a lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Express Movers, its owner Andrew Martin, and U-Haul, which she claims directed her to the moving company.
The move was supposed to happen overnight in June/July, 2007, but it never happpened, according to the suit. She was moving to a new apartment in St. Louis.
The move was supposed to be delivered on July 1, but it "failed to turn up at the appointed time."
Police recovered the truck two days later, but some of the possessions were damaged and property was missing, Mobley also alleges a locker she used to store the belongings in O'Fallon was "ransacked" and emptied.
Her total loss was $200,000. Of that loss, a portion of $102,000 was recoverable through an insurance company, the suit states.
Mobley claims U-Haul had a duty of care because she was directed to certain moving companies through a website that it allegedly operates, MovingHelp.com.
Martin and/or his employees are accused of stealing or damaging the plaintiff's personal property.
Martin allegedly failed in his duty to "use all reasonable care" to look after the property. He is also accused of failing to make sure his employees were "reliable, careful, and trustworthy", and failed to properly supervise those same workers.
Mobley is seeking in excess of $90,000 from each of the defendants.
A telephone number for Express Movers is no longer in use. A search of business records does not turn up any results for Express Movers.
U-Haul responding by stating it does not normally comment on lawsuits, but would pass on a request for comment to its legal department.
The plaintiff is represented by Mark M. Silvermintz of Collinsville.
St. Clair Circuit Court number 19-L-0481