Day 305 - 25 Nov 96 - Page 23
1 disproportionate number of letters about McDonald's which
2 were referred to in the notes of the spies, because that
3 was what they were there to keep and eye out for, anything
4 being mentioned about McDonald's; so they would not make a
5 note of all the letters that were read out about other
6 subjects.
7
8 There were various references during the evidence to me
9 being a signatory of the London Greenpeace account, which
10 is not disputed. There was a reference in
11 Mr. Pocklington's evidence -- well, he said that I paid
12 the 'phone bill on behalf of the group. Just in case it
13 was not clear, that was not paying it out of my own money.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I had not assumed that.
16
17 MS. STEEL: The point is that whether or not -- well, I was a
18 signatory, but that is just completely irrelevant to
19 anything. That I am a signatory to the account is neither
20 here nor there. The Plaintiffs still have to show that
21 I had a role in distributing the fact sheet or procuring
22 its distribution.
23
24 I referred last week to cases which refer to people in
25 positions of authority in unincorporated associations. The
26 point is that even when they are in a position of
27 authority, there still has to be evidence to show that they
28 were in some way responsible.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think, as I understood it -- I have not
31 read through the references you gave me -- but that is
32 where people are being sued as representatives of, I will
33 just say group, for want of a better word. You are not
34 being sued as a representative of a group here; you are
35 being sued in your own right, although one of the ways in
36 which publication is put against you is part of a joint
37 endeavour with other members, it is suggested, of the
38 group.
39
40 I suppose what may be said is, if you were a signatory,
41 that might be an indication that you are at the heart of
42 the group's activities; and I suppose what might be said
43 is, the mere fact that London Greenpeace had a bank account
44 showed that it was not just a term of people who might or
45 might not come together; it clearly had sufficient of an
46 identity, presumably, to have cheques with its name on it.
47 We have not heard evidence about that, but, in default of
48 evidence, that may be the inference to make.
49
50 MS. STEEL: Well, when I was a signatory, it did not have any
51 cheques with its name on it, because it was a building
52 society account.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have not any evidence about that. I have
55 just got that you were signatory of a London Greenpeace
56 account.
57
58 MS. STEEL: So, you could not draw the inference from that that
59 there was a cheque book with the group's name on it,
60 because -----
