The battle of the burgers will move to the courts by the end of this month, it was revealed yesterday.

And Attorney General Elliott Mottley said last night he would be pushing for the entire legal proceedings to be heard in public.

The first move in Grape Bay Ltd's action against Government is the originating summons.

That is normally held in chambers, with only the judge and legal representatives present.

But Mr. Mottley said: "The judge has power to adjourn a case to open court.

"I propose to ask the judge -- and I don't know if he will do it -- to exercise his discretion and adjourn it to open court.'' Mark Diel, of Smith, Barnard and Diel, counsel for Grape Bay Ltd, which includes former Premier and ex-MP Sir John Swan and Maxwell Burgess, a backbencher in the ruling United Bermuda Party, among its principals, was yesterday off the Island and unavailable for comment.

Grape Bay Ltd announced that it would sue Government only days after Governor Thorold Masefield signed the Prohibited Restaurants Act into law.

The Act was designed to outlaw fast food restaurants with a foreign flavour -- and scuppered Grape Bay's plans to set up a fast food franchise at the airport.

But last month Mr. Diel said he had been instructed to seek a Supreme Court ruling on whether the act applies to Grape Bay Ltd and, if it does, whether the Act is in breach of the Bermuda Constitution.

Mr. Diel said that the Constitution guarantees protection of people's property -- and that Grape Bay's contention was that its contracts with McDonald's in the US and others constitute property in the eyes of the law.

He added the Constitution also guaranteed freedom of association, with provisos. Mr. Diel, however, argued that none of the reservations applied in this case.

Transport Minister Wayne Furbert's Ministry awarded a major food concession to Grape Bay Ltd as part of the Airport modernisation programme.

It was anticipated that Grape Bay Ltd would trade as McDonald's -- but the Prohibited Restaurants Act's passage through Parliament put the plans on hold.

He said last night that he had sought further advice after the Governor signed the Act into law -- and that advice was that nothing could be done until the conclusion of the court proceedings.

When the legal action was announced, Mr. Furbert said that, subject to legal advice, it was hoped that it would be possible to advise Grape Bay Ltd of a time-frame in which to decide whether it wanted to take up its options.

These options include sub-letting the area earmarked for a food service and putting in a service unconnected with foreign chains.

COURTS CTS