Day 024 - 15 Sep 94 - Page 21


     
     1        dates, I can see in the letters as well as the days I have
     2        in other material that I have seen, the days of the week,
     3        I believe that July 4th itself was on a Friday.  Our July
     4        4th holiday is generally a three-day weekend, even if it
     5        is not on a Friday.  In this instance the three-day
     6        holiday began on Friday.  Everyone was back to work on
     7        Monday, the 7th.  Some time on Monday the 7th we were
     8        contacted by McDonald's to advise us not that they were
     9        putting out a press release, or anything of the sort, but
    10        to advise us that they had indeed decided to agree to
    11        release the brochures nationwide.
    12
    13        Our dealings with them were, of course, at that time -- we
    14        were expecting a response to our offer as contained in the
    15        July 3rd letter.  We accepted their statement as an
    16        informal non-written acceptance of our offer.  At that
    17        point we felt we had an agreement.  We were somewhat
    18        surprised to find out the next day, or later that day,
    19        more likely, that what in fact they had done was to issue
    20        unilaterally a press release claiming all the credit and
    21        not sharing the credit with the other fastfood companies.
    22
    23   Q.   The phone call to you on the 7th when they told you they
    24        were about to put out the brochures, did that come a bit
    25        out of the blue, do you know?
    26        A.  We were expecting a call from them.  What came
    27        out -- so the telling us they were going to go ahead and
    28        agree to what we had asked was no surprise at all.  It was
    29        a pleasant surprise because we did have some doubts as to
    30        whether they would agree -- they being the last ones to do
    31        so -- but what came as a significant surprise to us was,
    32        as I said, their decision to represent through their press
    33        release and statements to the people of Texas and the rest
    34        of the country that they were doing this all on their own.
    35
    36   Q.   So the first you were aware of any press release was when
    37        you read it in the papers the next day?
    38        A.  I might have been contacted, I don't believe so, I
    39        might have been contacted by a member of the press.
    40        I don't believe so because the news report, the Associated
    41        Press Live Story in particular, that appeared on Tuesday
    42        was unilateral.  It only reflected and only gave credit to
    43        McDonald's.  It was fairly clear to me that this had been
    44        in response to a press statement of some sort given out by
    45        McDonald's.  So, I think it was on the next day, it might
    46        have been later on Monday the 7th.
    47
    48   Q.   If we could turn to exhibit 3?
    49        A.  To my statement?
    50 
    51   Q.   Yes, to your statement.  It says:  "On behalf of 
    52        McDonald's Corporation I am responding to" ----- 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just so we have it, 21st July 1986.
    55
    56   MS. STEEL:   Yes, sorry. From McDonald's solicitors to Jim
    57        Mattox, the Attorney General of Texas?
    58        A.  Yes.
    59
    60   Q.   "On behalf of McDonald's Corporation I am responding to

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