Day 143 - 27 Jun 95 - Page 62
1 A. Do you want me to read the whole article?
2
3 Q. I will just ask you some questions.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just ask a question but do not do it by
6 quoting from the article; just put what you suggest is the
7 factual situation so that we may have Mr. Stein's response
8 to it.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: The main reason I am just going to look at the
11 document was, in fact, the last paragraph which is from
12 McDonald's, it says: "McDonald's says the new providence
13 unit meets health standards and always has done so. It
14 says Mr. Miller's complaints about the unit involved
15 matters that he was responsible for handling as a
16 trainee". His complaint, his food and hygiene complaints,
17 McDonald's was aware, according to this, were they not,
18 that there had been complaints over -----
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you know whether any McDonald's person
21 actually made that statement or a statement to that effect?
22 A. No, I do not, my Lord. This is an area that I would
23 not normally be involved in. I think I mentioned the only
24 reason for my involvement, or my Department's involvement,
25 was an opinion on whether or not there was any obligation
26 under -----
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I understood that.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: How long does it normally take a franchisee in
31 training before they get a result that they are either
32 refused or accepted as a franchisee?
33 A. I am not responsible for franchising.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you know the answer to it?
36 A. I would be hazarding a guess, my Lord.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: Is 15 months a fairly -- it was not something that
39 struck you as unusual or anything about that?
40 A. You see, the difficulty I have is that most folks who
41 are trying to become operators are generally doing it on a
42 part-time basis. They are working their other jobs and
43 then what they do is they try to learn what they will need
44 to learn to become franchisees during their off hours from
45 other jobs. So, that they can take a variety of different,
46 you know, time based upon their availability and how
47 quickly they go through the process.
48
49 Q. Our claim in our pleading is that he worked 2,700 hours.
50 That was his claim, I believe, which you would know about
51 if you were advised over the -----
52 A. That would seem outrageously high, frankly.
53
54 Q. It is about 50 hours a week for 15 months?
55 A. That would be -- this is -- I am assuming he, like
56 other folks, have other jobs that they are principally
57 working at. Again, I do not know about this specific
58 individual case, but I can just tell you in general that
59 these are folks who are working in other positions who are
60 working at becoming an operator on a part-time basis based
