Day 139 - 21 Jun 95 - Page 54
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That does not explain the relevance of the
3 questions you are asking. Quite frankly, in your own
4 interest you ought to get to the nitty gritty of it.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: You have said that Mr. Gibson's operational
7 standards were very poor?
8 A. Yes.
9
10 Q. But he was an experienced McDonald's operator who had been
11 given the right to develop Central America in the
12 Caribbean?
13 A. Yes.
14
15 Q. So he was someone that had been connected with McDonald's
16 for over a decade at least?
17 A. That is correct.
18
19 Q. Do you happen to know if he was also involved in Washington
20 DC in McDonald's or franchisees for also another decade on
21 top of that?
22 A. Based upon hearsay, I know he was involved in
23 Washington, yes.
24
25 Q. For some considerable time before?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. What were the operational standards that were very poor
29 that resulted in this?
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What does that have to do with the union
32 issue?
33
34 MR. MORRIS: For a start, it is relevant to operational
35 standards at McDonald's which are part of the case in any
36 event.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There is no allegation in this case about
39 operational standards in Puerto Rico reflecting in any way
40 on McDonald's in relation to anything in this leaflet.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: If operational standards are poor, it is relevant.
43 John Gibson and Oscar Goldstein were two of the founders of
44 the East Coast McDonald's empire, if you like. They go
45 back to the 50s, do they not?
46 A. They may, I do not know. I really do not know.
47 I joined McDonald's in 1974. You are asking me about
48 something when I was 8 years old.
49
50 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do not accept that Mr. Morris is now
51 entitled to show pages from a book written by somebody who
52 is not a witness in order to found a suggestion made to a
53 witness who was 8 years old at the time simply in order to
54 give himself the opportunity to read it out in court and
55 waste time.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: It is not wasting time.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Unless you can point to some issue in the
60 case to which it is directly relevant, you must restrict
