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Today, the matter went to court before Justice Michelle Arana. Fyffe's attorney Rodwell Williams argues successfully that Meridian had no standing to bring the case because it had no contract with Fyffes. Justice Arana agreed and that sent Meridian back to the drawing board. We got reaction outside the courtroom:...

Rodwell Williams, Attorney - Fyffes
"Meridian is not party to a contract which they brought to court with pieces of which they sought to our client. Meridian is not partied nor. That's the fundamental and sole issue that we were litigating just now before the court."

Jose David Gonzalez, Manager - Meridian Farms
"I think the argument is just a nit picking point and that says that the signature page of the contract does not exclusively delineate the name of the company that holds the contract. The nit picking, is obviously a no brainer. This company Fyffes a multinational has a monopoly on the bananas grown here in Belize. If we were growing bananas, who were we selling it to, if we were not a party to that contract. It's a no brainer and we are sure that this is going to be overruled as soon as we get to the appeal process."

Reporter
"So you plan to appeal?"

Jose David Gonzalez
"Absolutely."

So while the judge agreed with Williams, what about the bigger issue? We know from following the story at the time that Fyffes panicked when 7News ran a story mentioning John Zabaneh in the same breath as Meridian. At the time he was still under the Kingpin designation.

So, does the Irish company have at least some moral - if not contractual culpability for the demise of Belize's biggest banana farm? We asked both sides:

Reporter
"Cant the argument be made? All of us know what happened. What happened is that Fyffes, John Zabaneh's name, came back to the Meridian picture due to a certain news article. Fyffes got jumpy and gave the order 'listen BGA when you send that name, make sure it doesn't have Meridian on it because I am not doing business with that company due to OFAC.' That is the truth of what happened."

Rodwell Williams, Attorney - Fyffes
"Let me put a question to you. Perhaps you are to consider whether the BGA said 'I will not do business with Meridian because of OFAC. Growers sell fruit to BGA and BGA sells to Fyffes. If BGA doesn't sell your fruit to Fyffes, you can't have a fight with Fyffes. You want to sue the BGA because they don't have. They want to sue Fyffes which is the international foreign company. Let's go after the deepest pocket."

Jose David Gonzalez
"At the onset of the OFAC designation, there was no running for the hills by Fyffes, there is no interruption in the sale of bananas. They happily obliged with the sale of our bananas throughout that process and we had to transition into different company. That's where we came in and took over the management of bananas. When it comes to the losses, we're looking at a basic loss of value for the land about 80%. You have a land that you are grown the value for decades and suddenly with the stoke of a pen by this multinational company, you now have land that is worth 20% of what it was originally valued at."

Reporter
"Acreage?"

Jose David Gonzalez
"Acreage wise we're looking at 1500 acres."

Reporter
"So what is the quantum you would estimate in the loss of earnings or value that you all realize as a consequence as you call the stoke of a pen by Fyffes?"

Jose David Gonzalez
"The figure, we prefer not to disclose it yet, because we're still calculating but we do have an assessment on top of any other damages that the court may see fit to award us."

Reporter
"In the millions or tens of millions?"

Jose David Gonzalez
"Absolutely more than tens of millions."

As you heard, Meridian plans to appeal.