Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 30
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2 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Well, yes, I mean, two things. First of
3 all, maybe I am doing it back to front, that is what I am
4 doing, but I am, if you like, trying to show how
5 McDonald's case is non-existent. They chose to defend.
6 They did not have to bring any evidence whatsoever and
7 said 'It is up to you, prove it.' They chose to bring
8 evidence, executives and information policy statements, to
9 show it is not them. And I am saying that their evidence
10 is effectively worthless for these reasons, that their own
11 executives and heads of department --
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13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I follow that.
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15 MR. MORRIS: -- don't know what is going on.
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17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I follow that so far as Cesca is concerned.
18 But then we have got Arturo Wolf saying that actually the
19 stuff to Alujuela came from such and such.
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21 MR. MORRIS: As far as he was told.
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23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are saying Cesca is wrong because Wolf
24 was right. And if Wolf was right, then where do we go
25 next?
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27 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Of Wolf's evidence, this appears on day 226
28 between pages 65 and 75, and we would submit he is quite
29 confused because by the end of that period, that
30 testimony, he started off with a position that it all came
31 from Guanacaste, which contradicted what McDonald's own
32 witnesses, including Mr. Cesca, had said about 20% of
33 their supplies coming from the Sanisidro region. After
34 that had been put to him, he said, "Well, yes, such beef
35 would go to Alujuela from those areas."
36
37 Anyway, I mean, all I am saying is that McDonald's
38 witnesses on this subject, for a start they were not
39 experts. Secondly, they did not seem to understand what
40 they claim to understand. And thirdly, they were not
41 independent. They were here to project the line of the
42 McDonald's Corporation even where it contrasted with the
43 reality and the truth, and that is what I am saying. I
44 mean, Mr. Walker is a slightly different example.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, I have to say I got the distinct
47 impression that Mr. Wolf had come here to defend the
48 reputation of his family and of Costa Rica as he saw it
49 rather than McDonald's. McDonald's interests came very
50 far down the line. You may say, well, that made him
51 unreliable because he had a rather rosy view of social
52 affairs in Costa Rica, but he certainly seemed to me to
53 feel that your case had in some way insulted Costa Rica
54 and the Wolf family and that is why he wanted to come and
55 defend it.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: I think the plaintiffs brought him here to attack
58 the credibility of Peter Heller.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Certainly they did, but all I am doing is
