Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 26
1 statement of claim about the environment/index.html">litter.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There is not only not one in the Statement of
4 Claim, there is not one in the defence or further and
5 better particulars.
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: I raise it simply because Mr. Morris was making
8 one of his usual jibes about McDonald's having sued the
9 Defendants over something which in fact is not the case.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you have not raised it. One question I
12 want to ask at some stage is whether there is not a
13 defamatory meaning, and then you may help me, if there is,
14 where it goes ----
15
16 MR. MORRIS: Well, McDonald's ----
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just listen. To this effect, that the
19 Plaintiffs are culpably responsible for, to blame for tons
20 of environment/index.html">litter consisting of their waste paper packaging
21 materials littering the cities of developed countries. If
22 there is such a meaning, whether it is implicit in meaning
23 B, which I have in the abstract, or whether, even if it is
24 not, I can take it into account if it has any part in the
25 case anyway.
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: As it happens, there is quite a lot of law in the
28 Polly Peck case and other cases, as to the extent to which
29 the plaintiff is entitled to select the ground on which he
30 fights. It is perfectly true there has been some evidence
31 about environment/index.html">litter, not as much, thank heavens, as there has been
32 on other topics, but the fact is that if the allegation
33 about environment/index.html">litter is distinct and severable from the allegation
34 about destruction of trees, which I would say it certainly
35 was, and if the fact is, as it is, that the Plaintiffs have
36 chosen not to complain about the environment/index.html">litter allegation, however
37 defamatory it might be, then, to be quite honest, your
38 Lordship is probably not concerned with the issue at all.
39
40 All that your Lordship might say at the end of it is,
41 "well, it is a bit peculiar that the Plaintiffs are not
42 very upset or angry about the allegation of environment/index.html">litter", if
43 that is the way your Lordship's mind should run. What is
44 not probably a sensible use of court time at this stage of
45 the case is to spend hours and hours talking about an issue
46 which is not really in the case at all, if we are right.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: It is in the case so far as we are concerned.
49 Also, that it was accepted effectively as part of our
50 pleadings through the statements of witnesses on the
51 subject, and it is in the fact sheet and it is one of the
52 contributions to damage to the environment because the
53 urban environment is part of that, and it is also pray in
54 aid in terms of deceptiveness on the recycling issue.
55 Anyway....
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have no trouble about the recycling.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: One of the reasons there is so much environment/index.html">litter is
60 because of the irresponsibility of companies in general,
