 The case will open on February 17 |
A disputed-dealership jury trial pitting plaintiff Clark Material Handling Co against defendant Toyota Material Handling USA Inc (TMHU) is scheduled to open on 17 February.
Clark
sued TMHU in August 2012 claiming TMHU had "pressured, coerced and intimidated" dealership Southeast Industrial Equipment Inc (SIE) into ending its short relationship with Clark.
Clark's claims include unfair competition, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and violations of the North Carolina and South Carolina unfair trade practice acts.
Clark's claims survived an 18 December court hearing with legal arguments from both sides. The judge denied TMHU's motion for summary judgment that sought to end the litigation before trial.
Clark's pre-trial list of 140 exhibits includes emails, letters, marketshares, acquisition review documents and dealer performance reports.
The Toyota team has filed a pre-trial list of 366 exhibits including emails, letters, dealer sales agreements, marketing plans and performance documentation.
As jointly filed on 3 February, a stipulation of facts says Charlotte-based SIE has been a Toyota dealer since 1987, representing TMHU in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Their current non-exclusive agreement began on 18 April 2012, expires 17 April 2015 and permits SIE to sell other forklift brands. Currently for SIE, in addition to Toyota, those brands include Aisle-Master, Hoist and Combilift forklifts.
G&W Equipment Inc, also based in Charlotte, began distributing Clark products in portions of North Carolina and South Carolina in 2006. Clark assigned G&W additional areas in South Carolina and Georgia in late 2009 by virtue of its purchase of Piedmont Forklift Inc, a dealer then representing Clark in those areas.
In early February 2012, G&W notified Clark that it was adding the Caterpillar and Jungheinrich brands to the Mitsubishi brand that G&W had been carrying for Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. G&W told Clark that G&W was terminating its relationship with Clark.
The stipulation says SIE and Clark began discussions in January 2012 about SIE taking on Clark as an additional product line. SIE informed Toyota in April 2012 that it was "studying to pick up" Clark.
Clark appointed SIE on 17 May as an authorised dealer for seven SIE locations covering metropolitan Charlotte, eastern North Carolina, all of South Carolina and the cities of Savannah and Augusta in Georgia. SIE has another location in Richmond, Virginia. Clark announced the SIE appointment in a press release dated July 10.
As reported earlier, SIE's Cory Thorne sent a 25 July 2012 letter to Clark "reflecting SIE's decision to give its 30-day notice of termination to Clark (because of) a perceived conflict with its current vendor". Its current vendor was and is TMHU.
Both TMHU of Columbus, Indiana and Clark of Lexington, Kentucky compete in the market for forklift trucks and parts, but with significantly different levels of market penetration. TMHU is the longstanding top seller of forklifts in the US, while Clark has a 2-3% share of the US market. Nationwide, TMHU has 67 dealers, and Clark has 79 dealers.
TMHU's ultimate parent is machinery and equipment maker Toyota Industries Corp of Kariya, Japan. Clark's ultimate parent is diversified manufacturer Young An Hat Co Ltd of Bucheon, South Korea.
The case is pending before Judge Max O Cogburn Jr in the federal court for the western district of North Carolina in Charlotte.