Day 057 - 29 Nov 94 - Page 10


     
     1        a matter of opinion, thereby defeating that paragraph in
     2        the Statement of Claim.
     3
     4        In fact, in Mr. Morris' opening speech on page 39 of the
     5        opening speech -----
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you want me to look at that?
     8
     9   MS. STEEL:  Just to say that Mr. Morris actually said:  "If they
    10        are now saying that it is a matter of genuine opinion, then
    11        they should withdraw that from the case because it is
    12        oppressive and an abusive procedure to prosecute if they do
    13        not genuinely think it is defamatory".
    14
    15        Just a final point on that really is that the proposed
    16        amendments are considerably wider than what is presently
    17        pleaded in the Statement of Claim.  Obviously, the general
    18        legal points we have made about late amendments, many of
    19        them would also apply to this section on animals as well.
    20        I think that is all we have to say.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, thank you.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, perhaps I can -----
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Did Mr. Morris want to say something?
    27
    28   MR. RAMPTON:  I am so sorry.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  No, no further points to add.
    31
    32   MR. RAMPTON:  I can perhaps take my submission in reply fairly
    33        shortly.  So far as the question that your Lordship has to
    34        decide at this juncture, it is only this:  Are the words
    35        complained of reasonably capable of being understood by an
    36        ordinary reader of this leaflet, in the sense which is set
    37        out in the proposed amended Statement of Claim?  If the
    38        answer to that question be "yes they are", then leave
    39        should be granted, subject only to the question of whether
    40        the Defendants would suffer some irremedial injustice or
    41        prejudice if leave were granted.
    42
    43        My Lord, I do not wish to rehearse the argument I have used
    44        when I first made my submissions on this question.  So far
    45        as the question of whether the words are capable of bearing
    46        these meanings, and particularly 4F, are concerned, I need
    47        only invite your Lordship back perhaps to what Drake J.
    48        said on 7th July 1993 at letters E to G on page 2.  My
    49        Lord, I will not read it out again; that being his own
    50        view.  Of course, it is not conclusive by any means, but it 
    51        might weigh something with your Lordship. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It looks for what it is worth, if one takes
    54        page 2 with the main and page 3, exposing themselves to a
    55        risk of cancer, as if his, no doubt, provisional reaction
    56        to the meaning was pretty close to the possible meaning
    57        I expounded earlier today.
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I think, if I may say so, there is a
    60        distinction to be drawn between, on the one hand, what

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