Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 32
1 multinationals in general, by focusing on McDonald's as an
2 example to show in its entirety what is wrong with the
3 multinational companies which have such a massive influence
4 over our lives and over the planet, and also because,
5 although people do know these things, they are bombarded
6 with conflicting information by people with vested
7 interests such as food companies and, as a result, they may
8 sometimes begin to doubt the advice of health authorities.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
11
12 MS. STEEL: I do not really know whether I need to deal with it;
13 I did have some things to say about the proposal by Mr.
14 Rampton that you could take what was supposedly Mr. Justice
15 Drake's interpretation of the meaning. I mean, firstly, I
16 would submit that it does not explicitly state there that
17 is what he thought the meaning of the leaflet was, as
18 opposed to how he was expressing the Plaintiffs' Statement
19 of Claim. Therefore, I think it should be completely
20 disregarded in any event as an argument that he was putting
21 over his own view of what the leaflet said.
22
23 I can go on further if you want, which is that on that day
24 when that hearing took place, firstly, I think Mr. Rampton
25 said it was about the second hearing, to my recollection.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, are you talking about Drake J.?
28
29 MS. STEEL: Yes.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I think it is a perfectly valid forensic
32 move Mr. Rampton to make, but at the end of the day
33 I cannot be affected by what Drake J.'s impression might
34 have been. I have got to decide what the ordinary and
35 reasonable reader's interpretation would be. I think it
36 was Neill L.J. in Mrs. Gillick's case who said that the
37 judge was entitled to, if not bound, to take his own, the
38 impression it made on him. But I do not think that extends
39 so far as saying i am entitled, let alone bound, to take
40 into account the impression it made on another judge.
41
42 MS. STEEL: Right. The point I am making is that we do not
43 even know that that was his impression.
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I would not worry about that point
46 anyway.
47
48 MS. STEEL: OK.
49
50 MR. MORRIS: Just on that last point: What Mr. Rampton does not
51 know probably was that a skeleton argument was given to the
52 judge at that hearing, which we did not know about. It was
53 not given to us and it was not mentioned in court. It only
54 came out later. This was something we brought up at the
55 Court of Appeal when we appealed against Drake J.'s ruling
56 on the order of witness statements and discovery. In fact
57 we had no opportunity to put over our meaning and counter
58 that skeleton argument. We did not get a copy of it.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I can not make up my own mind according to
