A federal judge in Memphis is contemplating ways to resolve the claims of two forklift industry heavyweights which both want Lilly Co and Lilly-related businesses to represent their mid-south regional interests.

The region includes portions of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Yale Materials Handling Corp (YMHC) sued Toyota Material Handling USA Inc (TMHU) and Lilly on July 30, claiming Toyota interfered in Yale's long-time dealer relationship with Lilly (Forkliftaction.com News #121).

On November 19, Judge JD Breen heard the case in the US District Court and will deliver his verdict on an unspecified date.

So far, the judge has not addressed Lilly's request for a preliminary injunction to prohibit YMHC from terminating it during the litigation.

Lilly represents Yale in two sales territories with separate YMHC offices in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee. On a permanent or temporary basis, the judge could grant or deny Lilly's injunction request for either or both offices.

YMHC is headquartered in Greenville, North Carolina, and THMU is in Irvine, California. YMHC reports through the Nacco Materials Handling Group (NMHG), a unit of Nacco Industries Inc.

THMU denied most of YMHC's allegations and filed a counterclaim on August 27 (Forkliftaction.com News #123).

Lilly filed its pre-hearing brief on November 12 and submitted depositions from Donald Chance Jr, president of Yale; William Pleger, director of dealer development for Yale; Reginald Eklund, president of NMHG; and Colin Wilson, president of NMHG Americas.

A week later, TMHU filed a memorandum of law in support of Lilly's application for a preliminary injunction against YMHC.

For now, Memphis-based Lilly continues to represent YMHC. Since August 1, Lilly-related business interests, through recently-formed Mid-South Lift Trucks Inc (MSLT), have represented THMU as a service and delivery agent. Thomas J Clark III is Lilly president and MSLT principal.