Day 083 - 06 Feb 95 - Page 48
1 this morning seemed which seemed to suggest that Mr. Walker
2 was allowed to buy out McKeys from McDonald's so as to
3 avoid an obligation for discovery in this action. My Lord,
4 the fact is that the obligation of discovery in relation to
5 Costa Rica and Guatemala was recognised right from the time
6 when the pleading was finalised in 1991. Everything that
7 was in McDonald's possession, custody or power was
8 disclosed. When Mr. Hill went to Costa Rica the only
9 documents that he found in McDonald's file in Costa Rica
10 were those which have already been disclosed. If it would
11 help the Defendants to stop making accusations of bad faith
12 against McDonald's without any foundation whatsoever, I am
13 sure that Mr. Hill will swear an affidavit to that effect.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest is you wait and see what
16 decision I reach in relation to what "power" means. What
17 is the next topic?
18
19 MR. MORRIS: I am conscious that we want to sort out the food
20 poisoning ones as soon as possible, so I will be very brief
21 on the destruction of the environment. Guatemala,
22 Mr. Gomez Gonzalez said he saw a map similar to the Brazil
23 one relating to Guatemala. I have not got the reference on
24 that in Mr. Gomez Gonzalez's transcript. That is all
25 I would say on that. If I am asked to find the reference
26 I will try to find it.
27
28 The last one is about USA supply sources. Again, I am not
29 100 per cent prepared on this. This was dealt with in
30 Mr. Cesca's second affidavit. We asked for a list of
31 suppliers from 1979, 1983 and 1984 USA, or nearest year,
32 and Mr. Cesca says he is advised that the Defendants are
33 not entitled to this information. I recognise that you
34 made a decision that we were not entitled to that
35 information, my recollection is.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I said was that you were entitled to the
38 information wherever the Plaintiffs pointed to a particular
39 supplier, albeit unnamed, this was the effect of my ruling,
40 and say that this happens there. I suggested that you look
41 at the Plaintiffs' witness statements to see where that
42 might happen. In fact, I had not recalled at the time that
43 Dr. Gregory had mentioned Midland Meat Packers and another
44 abattoir which he did not name, but you now know that was
45 Jarret in fact. That was an example of one which had to be
46 named because the Plaintiffs' witnesses had relied on it.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: Are we talking about the same thing? Are you
49 talking about US suppliers regarding beef?
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I assume so.
52
53 MR. MORRIS: Yes. If we can ask if it can be thought about
54 again because -----
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, again I will try to save time because we
57 want to start with Mr. Atherton tomorrow. In file yellow
58 15 there is, as far as I am aware, a complete list of all
59 McDonald's US suppliers for the year 1989. It is only
60 necessary to look at the index.
