A provider of asset-based financing has sued a cable reel and spool distributor that took possession of four Nissan forklifts but failed to return them on demand.

De Lage Landen Financial Services Inc of Wayne, Pennsylvania filed the civil lawsuit on 16 March against Industrial Reel Exchange Inc of Houston and two other entities.

The case was assigned to Judge Reece Rondon in the 234th district court in Harris County in Houston.

De Lage Landen alleges breach of contract and is seeking payment of damages, attorney's fees and court costs.

Keith M Aurzada, a partner with the law firm of Bryan Cave LLP in Dallas, Texas, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiff.

De Lage Landen claims it supplied the Nissan forklifts to Industrial Reel from December 2005 to July 2007. Industrial Reel filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in 2010 and, subsequently, did not comply with a De Lage Landen demand for return of the equipment.

De Lage Landen found that Robert Verner, doing business as Onesource Reel Co, and 5200 Jensen Drive Partners LP had control of the forklifts.

Industrial Reel, Onesource Reel and 5200 Jensen are located in the unincorporated census-designated Aldine neighbourhood within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Houston.

Industrial Reel was formed in Houston in 1992 and provides services including new and recycled reels, respooling, lagging and disposal, typically for firms in the wire and cable industry.

In Houston, the address for the main Industrial Reel Exchange office is listed as 5310 Jensen Drive, and the firm leased 42,130 sqft (3,792 sqm) at 5200 Jensen Drive in 2007.

The Pennsylvania office of De Lage Landen is affiliated with international financial services provider Rabobank Group of Utrecht, the Netherlands.