Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 31
DAY 233
1 have different and more formal names than that -- may be
2 partly owned by the First Plaintiff, it does not follow
3 that the First Plaintiff had power over them.
4
5 MR. RAMPTON: Sorry -- not Braslo. Braslo is the supplier of
6 McDonald's Brazil.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Sorry. The Brazilian company, whose
9 name I still have not been told. I can get the Costa Rica
10 one and the Guatemala one off letters, but I have not --
11 maybe someone will refer me to it -- but I still, for
12 myself, cannot recall a document which gives the exact
13 identity of the Brazilian subsidiary.
14
15 MS. STEEL: Right.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The title, the actual name does not matter;
18 it is the argument which matters.
19
20 MS. STEEL: Did not Mr. Rampton say something about that joint
21 venture partnerships were -- that the law on their being in
22 possession or power or having the power over documents was
23 different to subsidiaries, and it was held that they were
24 in their power, or something like that?
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, he did not say that. But joint venture
27 partnership does not take you very far if it is the
28 equivalent of our limited companies; and both the
29 Costa Rica subsidiary (I will call it) and the Guatemalan
30 subsidiary (I will call it) are companies. They have got
31 names with "SA" afterwards, which would be the equivalent
32 of our Plc or Company Limited, in a Spanish speaking
33 country.
34
35 Mr. Rampton's argument is that it does not matter that the
36 First Plaintiff owns a substantial number of shares in such
37 a company; it would not matter if the First Plaintiff owned
38 all the shares in that company; that does not mean that it
39 has an irresistible legal right to call for documents for
40 the purposes of this litigation.
41
42 That is quite apart from whether I think it would be useful
43 to see the documents; and I must deal with both when I give
44 a judgment on it. I will deal with the question of power,
45 quite apart from the question of whether it would be useful
46 for me to see them.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: I mean, I had not actually remembered that we had
49 to come back on that, but I think I will probably be able
50 to come up to speed on that after the lunch break, if we
51 have a little bit longer for lunch. The matters of the
52 amendments to the defence and to the Statement of Claim, in
53 my -----
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The second matter -- to interrupt you -- the
56 second matter which I have very much in mind is
57 Mr. Rampton's application to re-amend the Statement of
58 Claim with regard to alleged publication.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: Yes. We are prepared to deal with that this week.
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