KINGSTON, Pa., April 17 / The following is a statement from Diamond Triumph Auto Glass regarding their lawsuit filed against Safelite: (see story from April 12).

There has been a great deal of interest in the automobile glass and insurance industries in connection with our lawsuit against Safelite. We have, to this point, declined to comment on the case. Given that there are now items being written about the case, we believe some clarification directly from the company is warranted.

Over the past several months, we experienced a significant increase in jobs lost to Safelite due to Safelite steering customers away from us. In some cases Safelite dispatched their installers to the job site in an effort to perform work initially scheduled with Diamond Triumph. When this first began, we thought these might have been isolated incidents of overzealous Safelite customer service representatives making mistakes. As the behavior continued -- and even worsened -- we came to the realization this was an issue beyond mere mistake.

We did not take the step of filing a lawsuit lightly. Our history shows we are not a litigious company. Unfortunately, due to the substantial harm done to our business, we had no choice but to file this lawsuit.

Similarly, we had little choice but to refuse to renew our network participation agreement with Safelite which expired April 1. We could not in good conscience agree to remain part of the Safelite Network when Safelite was blatantly not honoring its side of the bargain.

Based on comments that have been made to us since the filing of this case, the kinds of behaviors set forth in the complaint are by no means limited to us. We very much appreciate the supportive messages that we have received from others in our industry and urge those with information relevant to our cause to assist us by coming forward with evidence of their own experiences.