Day 123 - 09 May 95 - Page 34
1 and if it were of such a nature that they thought that it
2 would receive undue press publicity, that would reach the
3 shores, you know, our shores, then they would inform us of
4 that.
5
6 Q. In this country we have heard that there have been a number
7 of objections by residents or campaigns by residents when a
8 new store is going to be opened. This was from the chap
9 who was the General Secretary of the Tidy Britain Group, it
10 was your witness. That has happened in America as well,
11 has it not?
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where do we go on criticism and protest
14 because, to a very large extent, speaking as a
15 generalisation, what I have to decide is whether the
16 criticisms in this leaflet going through them really
17 section by section are justified or not? It would be a
18 complete abrogation of my task in the case to pay attention
19 to the fact that there have been criticisms in themselves,
20 would it not?
21
22 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Beavers said in his examination in-chief that
23 in LA during the riots McDonald's stores only had their
24 windows smashed, whereas other ones got burned down, and
25 this was some indication of the high esteem they were held
26 in by the community.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, the point about that, my Lord, was that the
29 community was largely black and Hispanic. That is the
30 point of that story.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: For all we know, they might have wanted to work
33 there the next day.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It was really directed at that. It was in
36 support of the demography point, was it not, really? I can
37 see areas in this case that, just depending upon your point
38 of view, you might be for or against McDonald's, as it
39 were, but I have to apply myself to the admissible evidence
40 in so far as it relates to the allegations which are made
41 in this leaflet.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: The Plaintiffs have portrayed their reputation in
44 certain terms and maybe we do not have to respond, but
45 obviously we would argue -----
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I do not think you do really. In so far
48 as Mr. Beavers says: "I think we have a good reputation
49 and we are determined that it should not be", he would say,
50 "falsely impugned", then that is one thing. But I am not
51 going to decide this case on what other people think of
52 McDonald's.
53
54 MR. MORRIS: As long as it is known that our position is ---
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I cannot possibly do that ---
57
58 MR. MORRIS: -- that McDonald's has a bad reputation in society.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- because it would be irrelevant to do it.
