Day 308 - 28 Nov 96 - Page 32
1 apparently accept the admissibility of the documents
2 referred to in their letters that crossed. Obviously,
3 there are provisos, ifs, buts and maybes, where a document
4 has been challenged or -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I noted up Mrs. Brinley-Codd's schedule and
7 your faxes in the terms as to what was agreed and what was
8 agreed with reservations.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: Yes. OK. I am just trying to finish. The last
11 point I would like to make is that we certainly do not
12 agree that the E.Coli document is excluded, the
13 Verocytotoxin Committee one.
14
15 The last point I would like to make is that this case is
16 unprecedented in many ways: because of the imbalance in
17 the resources, the lack of Legal Aid, the lack of a jury,
18 the length of the case, the importance of the issues, the
19 position of the McDonald's Corporation in terms of its
20 public perception and its huge advertising spend; and,
21 because of all the legal arguments that have happened in
22 this case, I think that -- this is a sort of a final
23 remark, really -- that this case has been in many ways
24 beyond precedent. Is it is an unusual case, and we think
25 that common sense should be applied to all the areas of the
26 case where judgment needs to be made, and that, in some
27 ways, you are in an unique position because of the
28 unusualness of the case, to evaluate some of the laws and
29 procedures that presently are in force. Therefore, we are
30 hoping that you are persuaded by, for example, developments
31 in libel and the European law that is increasingly going to
32 be adopted, and that the public will expect and support a
33 brave approach based upon the public interest in a case
34 such as this.
35
36 I think, bearing in mind all the circumstances, we believe
37 our case is proved all round.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Do you have anything more to say?
40
41 MS. STEEL: Yes, I do.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: She has been trying to get me to shut up for the
44 last ten minutes!
45
46 MS. STEEL: I just wanted to say something very briefly on
47 malice, because I did not actually saying about that during
48 publication; and, obviously, that relates to the
49 counterclaim as well, in terms of whether or not the
50 statements were lies, that were in the fact sheet.
51
52 The point on this is: what evidence have McDonald's brought
53 that we did not believe in the fact sheet, in the truth of
54 the statements in the fact sheet, or that we were
55 personally motivated by malice? They have brought
56 absolutely no evidence to that effect; and they could not
57 bring any evidence, because it is not true. We do believe
58 in the truth of the statements in the fact sheet, and that
59 is quite clear to everybody who has seen anything going on
60 with this case.
