Lawsuit keeps Ben Lomand from commenting on phone book error

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

KNOWLES

A $1 million lawsuit is keeping Ben Lomand Telephone mum about what circumstances led to publishing the Families in Crisis address, the same mistake made by competitor Frontier last year.

“We’ve been advised by our attorney to not talk about the issue given the pending litigation,” said Ben Lomand Telephone CEO Levoy Knowles.

Ben Lomand, Frontier, Citizens and the various printing companies involved in the printing of the local phone books are all named in a lawsuit filed by the local Families in Crisis center. The center is suing after Frontier published its address in its phone book last year, and on its Web site. The publication, the suit maintains, allowed potential abusers to be able to find the highly confidential address which subsequently led to threats. Families in Crisis was closed for several months while security improvements were made.

The center then requested the companies to pay for the upgrades but finger pointing as to who was at fault for publishing the address led to no settlement being reached. Ben Lomand said it was Frontier’s phone book and therefore its responsibility. Frontier said Ben Lomand sent the phone number file for its phone book without the address being red-flagged.

As for how the address was printed again following the previous trouble, the mystery will remain until either Ben Lomand comments or the case goes to trial. Knowles said he will consult with the company’s attorney to see if some kind of statement can be made. The shelter’s address does not appear in the current Frontier phone book.

According to Knowles, the publication of the address will be limited to a portion of books given to Ben Lomand customers as only about 10,000 of the 60,000 phone books had been issued before a reprint was conducted. Knowles noted the reprint was not necessarily brought about by the Families in Crisis address, but due to other things.

“We took care of some other changes as well,” Knowles said of the changes to the phone book.

The newer phone books, which are continuing to be issued, do not have the address of the battered women’s shelter. The books containing the address were mainly limited to McMinnville city. Ben Lomand serves all of Warren County and Van Buren, Grundy and Sequatchie counties.