When you shop at Wal-Mart, for groceries, sporting goods, or                                     clothes, you are                                       expected to pay for                                     your items at the                                registers before you                                leave. If you walk out                              without paying, you                                     can bet Wal-Mart will                                 call the police.

Two West Virginia construction companies say Wal-Mart, and one of its contractors, didn't pay them for their work, and they have taken legal action.

Acting on a tip from a man claiming to be a construction worker, PutnamLIVE.com has confirmed that two mechanics liens, totaling nearly $200,000, have been filed against Wal-Mart and its 2006 Contractor of the Year, Cleveland Construction, the second general contractor in charge of building the yet-to-be-opened Hurricane store.

One lien was signed by Joey B. Tolley as the owner of Tolley Contracting, in Eleanor, January 24th, 2008. It alleges that $51,693 has not been paid. Greg Williams, who works for Joe Tolley, tells PutnamLIVE.com that the lien still has not been paid and says Wal-Mart has not provided his company with a reason for not paying.

The Putnam County Clerk's office, which supplied PutnamLIVE.com with copies of the liens (posted above this story) confirmed that the liens have not been resolved.

Wiseman Construction, based in Charleston, filed a lien for $141,904.21 on December 28th, 2007 against Wal-Mart and Cleveland Construction. Calls to the office and cell phones of company president John D. Wiseman, who signed the mechanics lien, have not been returned.

PutnamLIVE.com contacted the Hurricane Wal-Mart to get the company's side of the story. An assistant manager promised the store manager would return a call with a number for the proper spokesperson. However, that call has not been returned as of this publication. A call to the corporate office has also not been returned.

Due to a pending lawsuit against Cleveland Construction involving the false arrest of this reporter, PutnamLIVE.com has been advised by council not to have contact with the company.  Because of this, no call was placed to Cleveland Construction.

Wal-Mart has announced that it will hold a grand opening of its Hurricane store March 7th. It is not known if the filing of the mechanics liens will prevent that opening from taking place.