LISBON - A former employee of a now-defunct Salem business filed court action claiming the company deducted health insurance premiums from his pay, but didn't pay the insurance carrier, resulting in the cancellation of his health insurance.

John Bischoff of Youngstown reportedly discovered he had no insurance after suffering a stroke and amassing $30,000 in medical bills. He requested a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop a Nov. 12 auction scheduled to sell the MC3 business assets.

Court documents said the company ceased operations and began liquidating assets in August. Named defendants in the lawsuit included MC3, Joel Pierce of Leetonia, Jane Ketchum of Lisbon and the estate of the late William Pierce, care of Rachel Pierce, of Salem, and Hartland Machinery Company of Portersville, Pa. MC3 was owned by the Pierces and Ketchum. Hartland was the company hired to hold the auction.

Bischoff asked the court to stop the auction and appoint a receiver to oversee any sale and distribution of proceeds of the property. The court document said his efforts to recover the value of his insurance contributions and amounts owed for his medical bills would be lost if the assets were sold at the auction.

He claimed the company failed to disclose the fact that his benefits had been cancelled and "...wrongfully converted money taken out of his paychecks for their own use or benefit," documents said.