GuySuCo legal fees in US court case a “private matter”

Jan 18, 2012 News

… questions by media are absurd–Ramkarran

Attorney-at-Law, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, of Cameron and Shepherd yesterday told media operatives that the issue of the fees paid by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to lawyers in the United States in the matter involving the sugar entity and Bedessee Imports Inc. is a private one.
Cameron and Shepherd is spearheading the local efforts on the part of the legal defence team for the court

Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran

matters in the US and Canada.
Ramkarran told media operatives during a press briefing yesterday at Freedom House that as attorney for the clients, which includes GuySuCo, he would need their permission to speak. He added, “As far as the fees for lawyers that is an absurd question, that is people’s private business….it is GuySuCo’s private business.”
Ramkarran suggested that maybe a question should be formulated and posed in the National Assembly.
Chief Executive Office for the ailing sugar company, Paul Bhim, whom this newspaper has been unsuccessfully attempting to contact for more than a week now yesterday finally promised to provide that information today.
The issue began when the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) decided to challenge a United States-based Guyanese man, Vernon Bedessee, over the use of the label Demerara Gold on sugar packages.
GuySuCo was already marketing a product, Demerara Gold, on the European market but the company discovered that Bedessee was marketing a product of the same name but instead of sugar made in Demerara, the product marketed by Bedessee was from Mauritius.
And Bedessee made it known on the label that his Demerara Gold was a product of Mauritius.
GuySuCo immediately challenged the apparent trademark infringement. Its Washington-based lawyers, Foley Hoag and Company, have already secured a qualified registration in the United States as part of the challenge to Bedessee’s apparent trademark infraction.
Following the discovery of the alleged breach, the Agriculture Minister made some statements critical of Bedessee’s action. These statements were published by the local media and reproduced in the overseas editions of some of the local newspapers.
Immediately Bedessee sued for libel and slander.
A spokesman in the local law firm of Cameron and Shepherd had told this publication said that United States law firms do not operate like those in Guyana. Lawyers charge by the hour. The spokesman said that top lawyers charge US$1,500 per hour.
Foley Hoag and Company lawyers charge slightly less. Investigations have revealed that the lawyers on the GuySuCo case are charging about US$1,000 per hour. Two lawyers are working on the matter.
In the end, the cost could be very high but according to the spokesperson, this money could be recovered when the sugar company demands costs from Bedessee.