Bordeaux, 7th Feb. 2001, Registered letter (Ack. of receipt)

Alain DONNART - Computing and Translations -
14 rue François-Lévêque 33300 Bordeaux
Tel & Fax 05 56 50 53 09
E- mail adonnart@free.fr
Site http://adonnart.free.fr
to
Mrs Joan Dillon, Duchesse de Mouchy
President & CEO of Domaine Clarence Dillon S.A.
37 avenue Pierre 1° de Serbie
75008 Paris

Madam Chairman

  Would you please inform your shareholders of the following facts :

O During several years grapeharvesters have been victims of assaults on behalf of tractor drivers of the Château Haut-Brion. This would not have continued without the tolerance of the management (foremen, vineyard manager).

O After the 1999 harvests, I wrote to the vineyard manager to denounce these facts. The latter passed it on to the Director who wrote back to me that he would carry out an investigation and would not miss to keep me informed.

O Now the Director, Mr DELMAS, who at first had recognized his incompetence because he admitted to ignore what happened for years in his domain, did not keep his word to inform me, did not make anything to obtain detailed testimonies from the victims, and still did not acknowledge explicitly - although it does not, and cannot, deny it - the reality of such violences, nor that they were tolerated.
On the contrary, he pretends that their consequences only matter, on one hand to deny their importance ("so-called damages", "damage you claim to have suffered") and to ignore their persistence (cf. my letter of the 9th Nov. 2000, item 5), on the other hand to refuse to answer - in spite of his written repeated commitment "to keep me informed" - about the co-responsibility of the management in the continuation of this violence during several years.
He even dare treat me as a nuisance (9-8-00) in order to cover the free-and-easy attitude of the vineyard manager, what is at the same time disrespectful - at least - for me, and makes him an accomplice of the denounced facts.

O On the 10th January inst., I received a letter from his lawyer, M° Andréa LINDNER-JAMIN, who claims to act on behalf of the "DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON" company. I ask you to confirm the assertion of this lawyer.

* If Mr . DELMAS acted without your agreement, I kindly request you to invite him to change his attitude which will be inevitably harmful to the reputation of your company.
For my part, I have no intention of obeying his injunction to deal with his lawyers :

a) First of all because it is not for me to supply documentary evidence, but beforehand it is for the Director, if not to justify what is indefensible, at least to assume the responsibilities himself by apologizing to me on behalf of his staff and by announcing his intentions to the other victims (in the dustbins of history ?)
b) Secondly because the aforesaid lawyer does not know the case : the damages suffered are still considered as "alleged", while the reality of violence is not denied and while I showed that the damage continued  apparently, he doesn't know too that, as regards the cleaning, I wrote in my last letter - of the 9th Nov. 2000 - I shall give it away.
c) Finally, that Mr. J.B. DELMAS prefers to give money to a lawyer rather than to the victims - seasonal workers with scarce resources - worsens his position.

Once the preliminary of the point a) satisfied, then, and only then, do please make me quickly a proposal of amicable settlement.

* If, on the contrary, Mr . DELMAS acted with your agreement, you would be liable of complicity of violence, jointly with the Director. In that case, or if you don't answer, I shall consider as true the assertion of the aforementioned lawyer, then I kindly request you to inform your Board of directors that I'll have no other choice than to lodge a complaint, not against X as I planned to initially, but against the DILLON Co.

* In both cases, please consider as null and void my proposal of amicable settlement as long as personal apologies are not made to the victims, as well by the authors of violence, as by the Vineyard Manager who tolerated them, and by the Director who tries to cover the latter and so becomes guilty of collusion.
Failing a change of attitude, I intend to lodge a complaint before Easter (and I can say that other grape pickers will join me) for assaults - and collusion - with premeditation, repetition, harassment, humiliations, embarrassment at work, depredations of properties (deliberate, for some of them), finally removal of the work place. Please take into account the fact that the more the Director will delay taking the "honorable" decision which is required, i.e. to begin by honoring his word to keep me informed about the steps he plans to take, the more the "pretium doloris" may rise.

In order that everyone be able to form an impartial opinion about it, I put the whole of the exchanged mail on my site ( http://adonnart.free.fr ), and I took pains to translate it so that it is accessible to the English-speaking people. In order that you take finally this matter seriously at last, please note that I intend to warn some of the personalities who appear in your site, at the page "News and Features at Haut-Brion.htm" ( http://www.haut-brion.com/forum/news.php ), for an advertising purpose, to ask them that their image be removed from your site if the Director maintains his contempt of the victims.
If it was not enough, I am ready to alert ALL the quoted personalities ("chefs" of prestigious restaurants,...), as well as different institutions, especially wine-related ones (CIVB, Institute of oenology, …) about the despicable attitude of Mr DELMAS . I also contacted a tabloid to make you a leading article if contempt was to persist.

Be sure that the reputation of your '1er Grand crû classé' would be inevitably affected, and that all the talks about the "nobleness" of the wine would be invalidated by the lack of respect to people, all the more serious because they are "seasonal workers", precarious people who have not much capacity to defend themselves (the change of opinion between answers to the questionnaire when the 'victims' are dependent and when they are not any more will be a proof of it), and so that there is also abuse of weakness.
With regard to the 'nobility' of the owners of the Domain, I abide by the Cervantes's stand which states that "everyone is son of his own works", and this is also - in principle - the position of Justice.

Then, I ask you so to take all this into account, and wish a fast answer of your part.
Yours sincerely.

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