Day 242 - 29 Apr 96 - Page 53


     
     1        Greenpeace (London) and Directors of the activities of the
     2        McLibel support campaign" and then it goes on.
     3
     4        I am not entirely sure what is meant by "directors" because
     5        "directors" is a bit of a legal term I think, but even if
     6        it is not that, I do not quite see where the evidence is
     7        for that either.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    10
    11   MS. STEEL:   They were the only things that I wanted to bring
    12        up.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I assume in 7(b), Mr. Atkinson, "directors"
    15        means "people directing".
    16
    17   MR. ATKINSON:  It could just mean people directing the
    18        activities involved.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will treat it as an objection, that this is
    21        an objection to the further particulars, which the
    22        Defendants are perfectly entitled to make, but I think the
    23        voluntary particulars concerned really do no more than seek
    24        to give the Defendants further information of what the
    25        Plaintiffs would rely on in support of the contentions
    26        which are already set out in the pleadings.
    27
    28        So far as the two specific matters which concern Ms. Steel,
    29        I take paragraph 1(c)(ix) where it refers to an inference
    30        to be drawn merely to be an indication that the Plaintiffs
    31        will invite me to draw that inference, no more than that,
    32        and whether I draw that inference or not will have to be
    33        seen.
    34
    35        It is doing no more than giving the Defendants notice of an
    36        argument which is to be put.  The same, it seems to me, to
    37        apply to 7(b), which sets out what the Defendants' actual
    38        contention is.  Not, it seems to me, making a new
    39        allegation, because it is said elsewhere in the pleadings
    40        that the Defendants had directed the activities of the
    41        McLibel support campaign.  Whether I am prepared to make
    42        such a finding, again I will have to see on the evidence.
    43
    44        I do not think either of those matters add anything of
    45        substance to what is set out in the pleadings.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, the one thing that did actually cross our
    48        minds at the time, we did not bring it up because we were
    49        not sure of the status of these voluntary particulars,
    50        actually it relates to the earlier particulars, just really 
    51        a question about the attempt or the bringing in of the 
    52        early day motion by Jeremy Corbyn MP as some kind of 
    53        example of publication.  Obviously, Jeremy Corbyn MP and
    54        Parliament is a legal body and he is protected by
    55        privilege, and whether that is not something which should
    56        be -- well, to clarify the status of that, as I understand
    57        it, that cannot be used by the Plaintiffs in any way, shape
    58        or form, in fact, should be struck out, any reference to
    59        what -- as far as I understand it, an MP is a legally
    60        protected ------

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