BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Chiquita urged a Cincinnati federal judge on Monday to dismiss a "banana wars" lawsuit and let it go to trial in Honduras.
"Everything you'd have to look at took place in Honduras," Chiquita attorney Thomas D. Yannucci said.
U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott said she would issue a decision soon.
Robert E. Manley, attorney for Ernst Otto Stalinski, urged her to retain the case. Mr. Stalinski's suit accuses Chiquita of corrupting judges in Honduras, committing piracy and trying to kidnap him.
He is seeking more than $1.5 million for what he said were lost commissions.
Mr. Stalinski initially sued Chiquita in Honduras. Last year, he brought a similar suit in Cincinnati, where Chiquita has its headquarters.
Defendants are Chiquita Brands International, Chiquita International Trading Co., Chiquita's Honduran subsidiary, Tela Railroad Co., and Alejandro A. Bakoczy, Chiquita security chief.
In oral arguments Monday, Mr. Manley said the suit belongs before Judge Dlott because the "people who call the shots" in Honduras work here.
He said Mr. Stalinski cannot get a fair trial in Honduras because "the courts are corrupt and the banana company is the source of corruption." He promised to produce witnesses who would be afraid to testify in Honduras for a Cincinnati trial.
Mr. Stalinski says Chiquita blocked him through abuse of the Honduran legal system and malicious prosecution from buying and shipping Honduran bananas to an Irish fruit firm.
He claims Mr. Bakoczy oversaw an attempt to terrorize and kidnap him and Chiquita arranged for phony court orders and used paramilitary forces to unload and destroy bananas.
Chiquita says Mr. Stalinski led an illegal effort to take bananas promised to Chiquita.
Monday, Mr. Yannucci noted Mr. Stalinski had enough confidence in Honduran judges to pursue his original suits against Chiquita there.
