Relations:During the course of the original Fyffes/DCC case, it became clear that relations were not exactly ideal between Jim Flavin and the brothers Carl and David McCann, whose family's involvement with Fyffes dates back over 100 years.
While the DCC founder and managing director had been a key adviser to their father, Neil McCann, when he transformed Fruit Importers of Ireland (FII) into Fyffes plc in the 1980s, he did not approve of Neil McCann passing control of the business to his sons.
Despite his views, David McCann became managing director of Fyffes and Carl McCann became its executive chairman.
As a director of Fyffes, Mr Flavin had a role in its remuneration committee, where he at times raised questions about the amount of money being paid to the McCanns.
Carl McCann had concerns that Mr Flavin and DCC would get "creeping control" of Fyffes - meaning that by way of an increased shareholding and increased weight on the company's board, DCC could take over Fyffes at a low cost.
Mr Flavin told the trial that his difficult relationship with the McCanns "provides part of the explanation for the timing, manner and mode of prosecution of these proceedings".
The McCanns did not agree, saying that the motivation was purely commercial.
Later, David and Carl McCann's roles at Fyffes changed to chief executive and chairman respectively.
Today, David McCann (49) is chairman of Fyffes, having resigned as chief executive in December 2006 following a demerger of the company's distribution business and property interests.
A qualified solicitor who first joined his father's business in 1986, David McCann said in March this year that the company plans to double the size of its business over the next five years through organic growth and acquisitions.
Fyffes saw its profits fall 75 per cent last year as restrictions on banana imports to Europe were lifted.
Carl McCann (54) is now executive chairman of Total Produce and Blackrock, the two companies that were spun off from Fyffes at the end of last year. He originally joined Fyffes in 1980 from KPMG.
The McCann involvement with Fyffes started in 1902, when Dundalk grocer Charles McCann became the first agent for Fyffes bananas in Ireland.
His son, Neil McCann (83), was the face of Fyffes for more than five decades, joining his father's importation and distribution firm in 1948. He set up FII in the 1960s and merged the old family business into it in 1980. It purchased Fyffes from United Brands in 1986.
Neil McCann retired as chief executive in 1995 and in December 2005, one week before the High Court's verdict on the insider dealing case, he stepped down as the company's non-executive director.
