Day 083 - 06 Feb 95 - Page 47
1 direction I give at the moment. What is it proposed, that
2 Mr. Hill will swear an affidavit with regard to what he did
3 or did not find and then incorporate the best of his
4 information and belief what has come, if anything, from
5 America?
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: I am sure he will do if your Lordship would like
8 it. I would not necessarily think it was -----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would have thought a letter will be
11 sufficient.
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: He is a solicitor, despite the fact he spends most
14 of his time in foreign parts!
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What, if anything, do you want to say about
17 that?
18
19 MR. MORRIS: I cannot think of anything to say. I do not
20 suppose there are any legal implications for the suppliers
21 who are no longer a supplier? There is no overlap period
22 where a supplier still has any obligations to a client once
23 the contract is terminated? I do not know.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I propose to do when I give a ruling on
26 what the test is of what is in the power of the First or
27 Second Plaintiffs, I will say what I think the test is. In
28 so far as I have been actually asked to look at a
29 particular document like the specifications to suppliers,
30 I will deal with that, but I am very reluctant to speculate
31 on what the position may or may not be with someone where I
32 do not know what the contractual relationships are.
33 I think you have to raise it in relation to particular
34 documents. The specifications I was asked to look at this
35 morning I am treating as documents which you accept should
36 be treated to be incorporated into the contractual
37 relationship between the Second Plaintiffs and McKey's.
38
39 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I am content if your Lordship assumes that
40 they have a contractual clause.
41
42 MS. STEEL: Can I just say, this really ties in with what I was
43 saying this morning just before we broke off, that I am a
44 little concerned about the Plaintiffs using various means
45 to get out of their obligations to give discovery. These
46 documents relating to Costa Rica ought to have been
47 enquired into four years ago when it was first pleaded, and
48 when Coope Montecillos was still a supplier of McDonald's.
49 Again, we actually brought this up when Dr. Gomez Gonzalez
50 was in the witness box when they were still a supplier, and
51 he was going to make enquires at that time; in fact I think
52 he phoned them up at that time. I just think it is
53 extremely worrying. From the evidence he gave it was
54 McDonald's decision to terminate the contract, and it could
55 well be that they have done that precisely for the purposes
56 of saying, "Oh well, we now have no control over our
57 suppliers so we cannot give you the documents".
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I have heard some idiotic suggestions in
60 my time. It is about on a par with the one that one heard
