Day 311 - 06 Dec 96 - Page 55
1 along, because I do not have any authority about this, if
2 the terms of a written, reasoned judgment from a judge are
3 apt to help restore that damaged reputation, then that in
4 some part fulfils the function of the vindicatory aspect of
5 the damages.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But there are so many imponderables are there
8 not? I mean, to what extent the reasoning in the judge's
9 judgment if it is in favour of the company gets reported?
10 If I decide to deliver in open court a summary of my
11 findings and hand down my written judgment at the end of
12 the day, should you get more damages if you succeed because
13 I have not read the whole judgment out in court then than
14 if I had taken an alternative procedure?
15
16 MR. RAMPTON: And to what extent -- well, no, no, that point I
17 was about to make is a bad one, because the extent-----
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Does it depend on how well, if at all, it is
20 reported, if it is in your favour?
21
22 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, it obviously does, but there is a fiction.
23 Just as the Defendants conduct in court, particularly in
24 the promotion of unsustainable allegations, is taken to
25 increase the damage to McDonald's reputation, even if there
26 are not actually any reporters here, though there may well
27 be members of the public here, so to the same limited
28 extent, I suppose, the terms of the judgment will, as it
29 were, enjoy the same benefit, the same slightly fictional
30 benefit. At any rate, if the judgment is favourable, even
31 in part, those are parts which McDonald's themselves can
32 use for the future.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I can see the reasoning. I wonder whether it
35 actually accords with reality, because those who are the
36 least bit interested in this case, if your clients
37 succeeded, might well be expected to see what the amount of
38 damages is but even the bravest of them might blanch at the
39 prospect of reading the judgment.
40
41 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. That is absolutely right. Mrs. Brinley-Codd
42 has put a note to me. I hope I might be as realistic as
43 she is in this area of human activity. What happens, to
44 take up your Lordship's point, if the press only report the
45 damages and not the judgment?
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, suppose you were to win at the end of
48 the day but I say things which are favourable to McDonald's
49 and things which are critical of McDonald's and the press
50 make a passing reference to the favourable things and dwell
51 on the unfavourable things, should I foresee that might
52 happen and adjust the damages accordingly? There seem to
53 me to be so many things one just cannot anticipate at the
54 time of an award if you win.
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: It seemed an attractive submission in principle,
57 but I see the practical difficulties. It makes
58 your Lordship's assessment really subject to a detailed
59 analysis of the judgment by your Lordship before you do,
60 and having to try and make in your own mind an estimate of
