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
