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

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