Sealy Mattress company is sued after Georgia man was found dead inside a locked trailer

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man suffering a mental health crisis wandered onto a Sealy Mattress facility, and his body was found locked inside the back of a truck there about a week later, his family says in a wrongful death lawsuit filed this week.

Relatives had been frantically searching for 38-year-old Joshua Armour late into the night after he disappeared in October. Location data from his phone showed that he was somewhere on the property in Conyers, Georgia, southeast of Atlanta.

After the family told a supervisor at Sealy that Armour appeared to be there, employees were instructed to close and lock all of the trailers out of concern that someone was on the property, the lawsuit states. Armour’s brother and sister say they were told to leave and were not allowed to search the area.

Once the trailers were locked, they could not be opened from the inside, and “Sealy did absolutely nothing to locate or protect Joshua,” the lawsuit says.

Representatives of the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

The company had enough information to save Joshua’s life, the lawsuit states.

“Tragically, Sealy chose to act only to protect its own property, while consciously choosing to disregard the life of Joshua and the pleas of his family.”

A news conference announcing the lawsuit was scheduled for Friday. The family of Armour, who had two children, is requesting a jury trial.

Defendants in the suit include the Sealy Mattress Manufacturing Co. LLC; Tempur-Pedic North America LLC; and Tempur Sealy International Inc. The family is represented by the Atlanta law firm Sinton Scott Minock & Kerew; and Kenneth S. Nugent P.C.

Jeff Martin, The Associated Press