Montgomery Ward was sued for $500 million.

Catalogue sales store operators for Montgomery Ward filed the lawsuit against the department store chain over its plans to discontinue catalogue operations over the next year. Attorney Paul Gutierrez, representing catalogue agency operators in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., said the suit charges Montgomery Ward and its parent firm, Mobil Corp., with breach of contract and fraud. The suit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Aug. 23 by Duane and Florence Smith, but Gutierrez said he will ask that the case be made a class-action suit representing all 220 independent catalogue stores in Arizona, California, Washington, Utah and Nevada.