Day 308 - 28 Nov 96 - Page 21
1 said that I would never deliberately deceive the public on
2 such matters of great public importance.
3
4 Also, any damages -- I do not know -- there should be an
5 additional factor to take into consideration, that
6 McDonald's compounded this libel on us by the fact that
7 they continued to publish it even when, you know, we had
8 issued the counterclaim and brought it to their attention
9 that we did consider it to be defamatory; and that, when
10 they knew that what they were printing was untrue, they
11 still continued to publish it.
12
13 Maybe if we have the break now?
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
16
17 MS. STEEL: I do not know -- I just said I do not know whether
18 it is appropriate now to have the break.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Sorry, I did not hear you. We will take five
21 minutes.
22
23 (Short Adjournment)
24
25 MR. MORRIS: Paul Preston's evidence, days 245 to 248.
26 Basically, most of that relates to the counterclaim, and
27 also the malice allegation by the Plaintiffs, and we would
28 accept for maybe day 247, apart from pages 61 to 67 on that
29 day which was about the form of advertiser, action by
30 McDonald's against them, so if we could ask you maybe you
31 could re-read -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have in fact already made quite
34 comprehensive notes about what Mr. Preston said as it
35 related to any particular sector of the case.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I understand that, but I think that because
38 we have not got the time, because time has run out, I will
39 refer to a few specific bits, as examples, but I think that
40 it helps to re-read some transcripts with through our eyes,
41 if you like, because I think that often there is a tendency
42 to take what the witness is saying at face value when it is
43 quite clear when looked at from a different perspective
44 such as, for example, our perspective, something different
45 is happening from what appears to be happening, or there
46 are implications of what is being said that are not noticed
47 at the time. Partly because of the way we did our
48 questioning, it was not always clear what particular
49 matters were-----
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I accept that.
52
53 MR. MORRIS: -- of relevance.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I accept that, but whether it is justified or
56 not part of one's expertise, it is supposed as one hears
57 the evidence, or rereads it, is to say what will the
58 Plaintiff make of that, what would the Defendant make of
59 that.
60
