Day 001 - 28 Jun 94 - Page 32
1 word taken from the one of the defendants' documents --
McDonald's, no matter what sacrifice or truth or fairness,
2 simply because McDonald's was an obvious and convenient
target for the defendants' deep rooted antipathy to
3 capitalism.
4 My Lord, next justification: I will say, my Lord, as
little about this defence as I already have about fair
5 comment, partly because I have already briefly indicated
in going through the leaflet why on the plaintiffs' view
6 of the case that defence is doomed to failure. But there
are two other reasons why it can be dealt with in short
7 order at this stage in this case. The first is this, as
your Lordship will know, much of the defence consists of
8 repetition of allegations made about other people on other
occasions perhaps in a book or newspapers or television
9 programme or Trade Union bulletin.
10 My Lord, in so far as -- I stress those words -- the
defendants are able to adduce admissible evidence in an
11 attempt to prove the truth of those allegations, then they
raise the legitimate issues which your Lordship will have
12 to resolve in due course. I refrain from making any
prediction how that will turn out at this stage.
13
However, my Lord, as your Lordship may feel, in a large
14 number of instances the defendants have so far produced no
indication whatsoever that their allegations are supported
15 by any evidence at all. In consequence, unless the
position changes dramatically during the course of the
16 trial (which it may), a large part of the defence will
simply fall away and your Lordship will not be troubled to
17 make any decision about it at all.
18 For that reason, amongst others, it would be not be a
useful employment of your Lordship's and the court's time
19 to go through those allegations at this stage.
20 Secondly, my Lord, as I have said, McDonald's business has
been in existence for nearly 40 years and now covers 70
21 countries and 14,000 restaurants throughout the world; yet
in three particulars areas, at least, food poisoning,
22 advertising and the alleged mistreatment of employees, the
allegations pleaded in support of the worldwide
23 generalisation about McDonald's practices asserted in the
leaflet, your Lordship may feel, amount against the
24 background of McDonald's' size and length of existence to
proof of really nothing at all. One swallow or even 20
25 swallows do not make a summer when the year is 40 years
long.
26
Perhaps, if they prove anything, those particular
27 allegations, it is this, that no-one is perfect, no
company is perfect; that accidents may happen even in the
28 best of households. That is a proposition which, as your
Lordship will hear, McDonald's readily accept.
29
Then I come to the counter claim. As Mr. Morris so
30 helpfully announced in court this morning, the defendants
have recently made a counterclaim against the second
