Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 12


     
     1        your facts are right or wrong, it is obvious the motivation
     2        is that people who are seeking something better want to
     3        criticise something that is worse and they are two sides of
     4        the same coin and the motivation is not malice but desire
     5        to improve society.  In fact, I think even McDonald's have
     6        recognised in this case a lot of their what might be called
     7        superficial adoption of environmental and other issues has
     8        been as a result of what their critics have been saying
     9        about them and about those issues and society generally.
    10
    11        Before I go through those issues, in terms of attempts to
    12        paint the fact sheet as lies or our belief in those lies,
    13        not being based on anything or whatever, motivated by
    14        malice, McDonald's have been seen to have accepted the
    15        distribution of the fact sheet with only one or two minor
    16        amendments when their solicitors made an agreement to that
    17        effect in 1987, three years before they sued Helen and
    18        myself, they made an agreement with Veggies Limited in
    19        Nottingham who were and still are the main distributors and
    20        continuing distributors of the fact sheet over the last ten
    21        years.
    22
    23        No complaint was made about headings, no complaint was made
    24        about nutrition section, advertising section, employment
    25        section.  No complaint was made about the facts in the
    26        animals section.  The only effective change sought by
    27        McDonald's, after negotiation with Veggies, was the
    28        allegation of direct involvement in rainforest and tropical
    29        forest destruction rather than indirect involvement.  As
    30        you have heard in this case, evidence has finally come to
    31        light on that anyway.
    32
    33        We submit that the context of the fact sheet makes it clear
    34        it is not just McDonald's who is being criticised but an
    35        economical system and cultural approach in which they are
    36        an important factor and example.  I am going to look at the
    37        meanings that we originally pleaded.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   That you or McDonald's originally pleaded?
    40
    41   MR. MORRIS:   That we originally pleaded.  I am dealing with the
    42        points about malice and general belief at the moment,
    43        because McDonald's have said that when they served witness
    44        statements on us we should therefore have known that
    45        everything in the fact sheet was untrue.  Of course,
    46        ignoring the fact that we had served counter statements on
    47        the same day backing up our pleadings and the fact sheet.
    48
    49        If I can just read these out, because they obviously
    50        underline the wider issue on each of the subjects, that we 
    51        sought to justify the following meanings in respect of the 
    52        fact sheet and they were not comprehensive, they were done 
    53        in a hurry before we had the benefit of actually knowing
    54        what the libel laws were about and what fighting the case
    55        was about, but they are a helpful indication of what the
    56        issues between the parties would become at trial.
    57
    58        That McDonald's, along with other large corporations, by
    59        its practices such as the purchasing of meat from Central
    60        and Latin America by restaurants operated or franchised by

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