Day 309 - 03 Dec 96 - Page 55
1 they are making a contribution to this starvation. It is
2 not as much of a contribution as the Corporation, but
3 certainly a significant contribution.
4
5 Your Lordship will have noticed that so far as the export
6 of crops is concerned, at least, that is not limited to
7 export to the United States.
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Moving on to rainforest ---
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, yes.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- let us suppose that 4B, 4C and 4E in the
14 Re-amended Statement of Claim got it right.
15
16 MR. RAMPTON: Yes.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: On page 2 of your submissions,
19 paragraph 2(1) -----
20
21 MR. RAMPTON: Page 2. I am sorry, I have leapt ahead.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Page 2, paragraph 2(1), sub-paragraph 2, if
24 the plain meaning of the words complained of is, in
25 summary -- I have asked what I want to ask at the moment
26 about causing starvation -- 2, "that McDonald's actively
27 destroyed vast areas of rainforest to make way for their
28 cattle and to provide packaging for themselves" -----
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: That is right. That is the same as saying "use
31 and have used lethal poisons to destroy".
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I was going to say, is that a general sting
34 which is more serious than the general sting in B?
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: No. It is the same, I would say.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What, the "guilty of destruction", or -----
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: B and C go together. The method of destruction is
41 that described in C, which is taken directly from the words
42 complained of.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
45
46 MR. RAMPTON: My attempt at 2(1)(2) is only a summary. I have
47 said a rewriting of B and C. I have simply summarised
48 them. One notices -----
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You say you get that from a combination of 4B
51 and 4C, or from 4C alone.
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. You get it from both, because one notices
54 that 4B does not say "are guilty of causing the destruction
55 of the rainforest"; it says "guilty of the destruction of
56 rainforest".
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It certainly does not say "are indirectly
59 responsible for the destruction of the rainforest".
60
