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

Prev Next Index