A former Sport Mart employee is suing the store, which closed last year, claiming he was fired without warning and never paid wages and benefits he was due.
Earl Osborne, of Malden, was fired without notice on July 31, 2014, after working for Sport Mart for about 37 years, states his lawsuit filed last week in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
John Smallridge, president of the store, refused to pay Osborne his accrued wages and benefits, the lawsuit claims. Smallridge is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Smallridge announced in mid-July 2014 that the store would close after more than 84 years and that a liquidation sale would begin Aug. 1, 2014. The decision to close came after Smallridge tried to sell the business, according to previous Gazette-Mail reports.
Tim Hunter, a consultant for Smallridge, previously said the store had been listed for sale at $1.9 million and that many sporting goods retailers across the state had looked into buying it.
"We just had a really tough time over the past two to three years with competition, the Internet and the economy. All the external factors of competition and the economy were taking its toll on our business," Hunter said last year.
Osborne is being represented by Charleston attorney Mark Toor. The case is assigned to Circuit Judge James Stucky.
