Jewelers Sue Brink’s After Losing Merchandise in Heist

Brink’s is taking legal action of its own after the parties disagreed about compensation for the missing goods.

Lenore Fedow lenore.fedow@nationaljeweler.com

The value of the jewels stolen from a Brink’s truck last month is now the subject of two legal actions. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/GeorgHH)

Los Angeles—Twenty-two bags filled with jewelry and watches were stolen from the back of a Brink’s truck near Los Angeles last month.

The value of the stolen goods is now the subject of two legal actions, one filed by the jewelers who were robbed and the other by Brink’s.

The truck was loaded with exhibitors’ merchandise from the International Gem and Jewelry Show, held in San Mateo, California, from July 8-10, and was heading to another show at the Pasadena Convention Center, scheduled for July 15-17.

Along the way, the driver pulled into a Flying J rest stop, where an unknown suspect(s) broke into the locked vehicle, stealing 22 of the 73 bags of jewelry.

The exhibitors reported their losses at more than $100 million and expected to be compensated, but Brink’s calculated the losses at less than $10 million.

Brink’s filed a legal complaint in New York on Aug. 4, seeking a declaratory judgment against the jewelry companies, claiming they “substantially under-declared the value of their shipments on the pickup manifest.”

The manifests for the 22 missing shipments declare a total value of $8.7 million, said Brink’s.

Court documents detail the terms of the contracts with the exhibitors, including a stipulation that customers must declare the actual monetary value of the shipment.

The lawsuit also sheds some light on what happened the night of the robbery.

The two armed guards, named only as Driver 1 and Driver 2 in court documents, left around midnight. Driver 1 drove the truck to the rest stop and left Driver 2 asleep in the truck.

After spending about 30 minutes inside grabbing food, Driver 1 returned to the truck to find the red plastic seal around the trailer was cut, as was the trailer’s rear lock. Driver 2 said he did not see or hear anything unusual.

There were no closed-circuit televisions or other surveillance devices near the parked truck, said Brink’s.

The jewelers who lost goods in the heist filed their lawsuit against Brink’s Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging breach of contract and negligence and asking the court to award them hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Additional defendants include the two drivers, a Brink’s sales and show support specialist, and Pilot Flying J, the owner of the Flying J rest stop.

The lawsuit outlines several complaints, including the alleged negligence of Brink’s and the drivers, a hard-to-read contract, misleading advice from a sales specialist regarding insurance, and the failure of the rest stop to provide a safe environment.

A Brink’s spokesperson said the company does not comment on active litigation.

The lawsuit states: “This action seeks to rectify the wrong Brink’s has heaped on top of the theft its drivers practically invited to happen.”

The plaintiffs took issue with the behavior of the drivers, particularly Driver 1 being asleep in the sleeping berth while on the clock, though Brink’s states in its lawsuit that the driver’s behavior was in line with what U.S. Department of Transportation regulations allow.