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Avsändare är Doles advokat, John Procter, på advokatfirman Gibraltar Associates i Washington.

”Greetings Bernt,
I am writing on behalf of Dole Food Company to follow-up on your recent story about the dispute over Mr. Gertten’s film, Bananas!*. I wanted to make sure you were aware of a few background facts about Mr. Gertten’s film and Dole’s eventual decision to file a suit. I would be happy to try to answer any questions you might have or –better yet – connect you with Dole’s lead attorney on this issue, Mr. Ted Boutrous, who is also a leading freedom of speech expert.
The trial that is depicted in Mr. Gerttten’s film was, in April of this year, exposed as a massive fraud against Dole by the lawyer representing the Nicaraguan plaintiffs. Several stories (including a Wall Street Journal editorial on the topic) are below.

The Los Angeles court found in the attorney, Juan Dominguez resorted to ”fraud, conspiracy and extortion” in an effort to recruit anyone that he could find to falsely state that they had been injured by exposure to pesticides more than thirty years ago. The problem was, as was exposed in the courtroom after Mr. Gertten ended his filming is that he could not actually find anyone that had been injured! He taught them what to say about what it might be like to work on a banana farm, how to lie about who they worked with and even told them to deny children that they had because they were claiming that they were sterile.

Mr. Dominguez is now in a great deal of trouble. An investigation has been opened by state prosecutors for further action – and potential jail time. While Mr. Gertten surely did not know of Mr. Dominguez’s scheme, the inspiration for his film has now been exposed as a fraud, undermining the entire story. Again, the entire story that Mr. Gertten’s film tells has now been exposed as a lie. The film depicts Mr. Dominguez as a hero when, in fact, a court discovered that he was the mastermind behind a massive fraud.
After seeing the film in Los Angeles, Dole requested, a number of times, that Mr. Gertten modify his film to accurately reflect what has been exposed – but he refused to do so. Only after repeated attempts to have the film reflect the truth did Dole move forward with its suit in order to protect the reputation of its 75,000 employees worldwide – a reputation of which the company is very proud.

I hope, should you write any additional stories about this film, that you will feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. If you are interested in any of the background above, please let me know and I would be happy to connect you directly with Dole’s attorney in Los Angeles for direct quotes.

Thank you for your interest and
Best regards”
John Procter Vice President
http://www.gibraltar-llc.com