Day 024 - 15 Sep 94 - Page 57
1 declined to do. We had engaged in a telephone
2 conversation. It was clear to us that McDonald's
3 retaining of the prior Secretary of Health and Human
4 Services was a political move in an attempt to influence
5 our Attorney General's through a political end run rather
6 than my addressing the merits of the case, and General
7 Mattox declined to do so.
8
9 I believe that the next item of correspondence was this
10 one week later letter from Gerald Rossburgh at Dewey
11 Valentine on behalf of McDonald's. In that letter, that
12 was to me at the time and is to me now, a McDonald's
13 promise that it would stop the campaign. He encloses the
14 insertion data -- page 171 of your binder -- and then
15 refers to it to, as he said, make clear that none of the
16 advertisement is currently scheduled to appear. None was
17 placed with a magazine after April 13. I do not know why
18 April 13 was a date at issue. It is immediately
19 following, or would have been at or on the date they
20 received my April 10, 1987 mailgram, and that none of the
21 three advertisements about which you expressed a specific
22 concern is in the pipeline, meaning was not scheduled to
23 appear again.
24
25 I believe there was a follow-up letter to that confirming
26 our understanding. I do not see it before me. My
27 recollection may be incorrect. Was there? I would have
28 to ask if I might, if there is an Exhibit 9 to my
29 statement?
30
31 Q. Exhibit 9 is, in fact, the letter of May 5th. In fact,
32 this letter, this McDonald's letter, is not exhibited to
33 your statement.
34 A. Then I am incorrect, if there is no exhibit 10, then
35 I did not send them a letter confirming -- at least not
36 one that I currently have.
37
38 Q. This letter that is written by the solicitors, the second
39 paragraph on the second page, is implying that they will
40 not make a promise not to run -- they are saying they will
41 not agree to terminate the entire advertising campaign?
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us take it step by step. It might be
44 thought the first page makes it clear by reference to the
45 said schedule that none of the advertisements was at that
46 time scheduled to appear in the magazine issue going on
47 sale after 26th May, which is later that very month.
48
49 MS. STEEL: Right. It is right that the second part, that
50 none was placed with a magazine after the April 13th which
51 is three days after you sent the mailgram first informing
52 them of your concerns about the advertising campaign?
53 A. I read the first sentence of the first full paragraph
54 on page 2 No. 170 to be a statement by McDonald's that
55 they are going to hold off on running any of the eight
56 advertisements before meeting with us. Again, I apologise
57 because I do not have access to or cannot locate the notes
58 from any subsequent meeting, I cannot tell you if there
59 was an in-person meeting or a further discussion.
60
