DRAFT

Bordeaux, the 25th -10-2001

to

Object : LODGEMENT OF A COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES
Enc. : Letters to the persons responsible - Vineyard Manager, Director, CEO - for the Château Haut-Brion ; Answers from the Director and letter of his lawyers ; letter from the CEO and my answer (according to the recapitulative list enclosed).

Your Honour

   Mr. DONNART Alain, born on July 4th, 1946, of French nationality, translator, and living
14 rue François-Lévêque, 33300 Bordeaux.
Having for lawyer Mister confidential living confidential Bordeaux.

HAS THE HONOR TO INFORM YOU THAT :
  I lodge a complaint in your hands as plaintiff claiming damages, on the foundation of the articles 222-17 (threats), 322-1 (damages), and R.625-1 (voluntary violence), => 222-13 §8 (violence in group) et §9 (with premeditation), 221-6 et 222-19 (and R.625-3 > breach of the security duty) of the New Penal code.
  Indeed, I was a victim of assaults, infringements on my dignity and on my possessions, and harassment on behalf of members of the staff of the Château Haut-Brion, 33608 Pessac, being a part of the "Domaine Clarence DILLON Inc." company, 37 avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75008 Paris.

THE FACTS ARE THE FOLLOWING ONES :
  During the 1998 grape harvests in the Château Haut-Brion, a good many grapeharvesters were victims of violence on behalf of tractor drivers of the domain : the latter got into the habit of tipping over the seasonal workers into the trucks used to collect the baskets'contents.
The basket bearers were not their only victims, because sometimes they entered in the vineyards to catch grape pickers. When they had knocked down the victims in trucks, the tractor drivers crushed them clusters on the face (so that some vintagers had their blouse well filled), and sometimes some of their clothes were taken off (my boots were thrown in the vineyards, and I was obliged, barefoot and soaked with grape juice, to go and fetch them in the mud). I personally suffered such treatment repeatedly in 1998 and 1999. Those who tried to resist were treated more violently : for instance, they put a waist lock on one of the grape pickers, who was then then gagged and half suffocated with a sticky paper. The foreman didn't bother and many regular vintagers, knowing that they would not be 'chosen' encouraged the bullying, some of them even said that the more I would protest, more often I would undergo the same treatment. Another grape picker who protested had the tires of her cycle punctured. As for my scooter, it was several times 'carried' into the vineyards, even when the steering was blocked, what eventually bended it.

It should be also stated that this violence had begun several years previously and that I suffered it again during the 1999 harvest. I had asked the foreman to stop these schemes. The latter had answered that I should apply to the Vineyard Manager, Mr. BARATIER. I waited until the end of the harvest and to be paid before doing so, the 25th-9-99. Mr. BARATIER passed on my letter to the Director, Mr. DELMAS.
In October, the Director wrote to me that he was going to make an inquiry and that he " will not miss to keep me informed about the the latest developments ". On November 15, he sent me a questionnaire, as well as to the other vintagers..

I waited in vain to hear from the Director till the end of January, 2000.
At the beginning of February, I wrote to the Director to tell him I was surprised by his silence and that he did not try to obtain detailed testimonies, not even from the first declared victim. He then answered to send him " the relevant documents matching your assessment of the damages you claim to have undergone ", without informing me about the outcome of the questionnaire, neither did he admit explicitly the reality of the violence exposed, and that I had not been the only victim ; so, I wrote back to ask him to keep his word to inform me.
On February 17, the Director writes to me to repeat his request, refuses to give more information except that he will not reply any more to my letters but that I could apply to his lawyer.
I tried then, in vain , to find the address of the foreman. After that, I tried to call the Vineyard Manager who declared he would not speak to me outside the Estate. I eventually wrote to him in July to warn him that his personal liability could be involved. In August, it is the Director who answers it by asking me " to stop annoying our staff ".

On January 10, 2001, I received a letter from the lawyer of Mr. DELMAS, who accepted documentary evidence of damage only for "the cleaning of the clothes", although I had written to the managing director that I was disposed to forgive this item. As for the damaged steering of my scooter, the lawyer asked me to prove "a connection between the damage and the offence" !
Then, I didn't know exactly what to do, when I became aware that the Château Haut-Brion actually belongs to a company. After some research, I found the address of the company's CEO.
So, at the beginning of February, I wrote to Mrs Joan DILLON, CEO of the 'Domaine Clarence DILLON Inc.'.
[ Afterwards, I also wrote to 3 personalities whose visit to the Château Haut-Brion is reported on its Internet site : the Mayor of Pessac (also president of the Regional council), the Prefect of the Gironde, and the Secretary of State for Women's rights. I asked them to request the Director to remove their photo from this site.]
As I had still received no answer from anyone at the end of March, I contacted a lawyer, Mister confidential, and, in agreement with him, I built up a file including a request for jurisdictional help and the whole of the mail exchanged with those in charge of the domain. Since, the CEO answered, in October only, just to confirm the Manager's stand, still without any apology, but above that, she accused me of "threats", "insinuations" and "defamations"!

In view of the foregoing, I feel compelled to lodge a complaint for threats, harassment, assaults, infringements of the persons' dignity, and damage to their property - the whole with premeditation and repetition of the offences -

* against the two tractor drivers as beeing the direct perpetrators,
* and against those in charge of the estate (foreman, Vineyard Manager, Director, CEO), the Château Haut-Brion & the Clarence DILLON company, because they left things alone during several years, and showed a guilty lack of haste to clear up the facts, to acknowledge the victims, and all the more so, to make their apologies ;
* as well as against everyone who could be revealed by the investigation.

  I ask you to benefit from the exemption of deposit, and I am entirely at your service to supply any further information and to appear to any summons which you will wish.

Yours respectfully.

Bordeaux, the 25th-10-2001