Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 30


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:   Yes.  Well, yes, I mean, two things.  First of
     3        all, maybe I am doing it back to front, that is what I am
     4        doing, but I am, if you like, trying to show how
     5        McDonald's case is non-existent.  They chose to defend.
     6        They did not have to bring any evidence whatsoever and
     7        said 'It is up to you, prove it.'  They chose to bring
     8        evidence, executives and information policy statements, to
     9        show it is not them.  And I am saying that their evidence
    10        is effectively worthless for these reasons, that their own
    11        executives and heads of department --
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I follow that.
    14
    15   MR. MORRIS:  --  don't know what is going on.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I follow that so far as Cesca is concerned.
    18        But then we have got Arturo Wolf saying that actually the
    19        stuff to Alujuela came from such and such.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:   As far as he was told.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are saying Cesca is wrong because Wolf
    24        was right.  And if Wolf was right, then where do we go
    25        next?
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:   Yes.  Of Wolf's evidence, this appears on day 226
    28        between pages 65 and 75, and we would submit he is quite
    29        confused because by the end of that period, that
    30        testimony, he started off with a position that it all came
    31        from Guanacaste, which contradicted what McDonald's own
    32        witnesses, including Mr. Cesca, had said about 20% of
    33        their supplies coming from the Sanisidro region.  After
    34        that had been put to him, he said, "Well, yes, such beef
    35        would go to Alujuela from those areas."
    36
    37        Anyway, I mean, all I am saying is that McDonald's
    38        witnesses on this subject, for a start they were not
    39        experts.  Secondly, they did not seem to understand what
    40        they claim to understand.  And thirdly, they were not
    41        independent.  They were here to project the line of the
    42        McDonald's Corporation even where it contrasted with the
    43        reality and the truth, and that is what I am saying.  I
    44        mean, Mr. Walker is a slightly different example.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, I have to say I got the distinct
    47        impression that Mr. Wolf had come here to defend the
    48        reputation of his family and of Costa Rica as he saw it
    49        rather than McDonald's.  McDonald's interests came very
    50        far down the line.  You may say, well, that made him
    51        unreliable because he had a rather rosy view of social
    52        affairs in Costa Rica, but he certainly seemed to me to 
    53        feel that your case had in some way insulted Costa Rica
    54        and the Wolf family and that is why he wanted to come and
    55        defend it.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:   I think the plaintiffs brought him here to attack
    58        the credibility of Peter Heller.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Certainly they did, but all I am doing is

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