Day 249 - 14 May 96 - Page 51
1
2 Q. Right.
3 A. I am quite sure that I might have told Paul, but
4 I would not have asked his directions for writing to lots
5 of organisations who said things, newspapers, who said
6 things that I felt were unfair to McDonald's.
7
8 Q. Right. So, it was in 1987 that you decided that you
9 actually wanted to identify the people involved with the
10 group who were responsible for the distribution of the
11 leaflet?
12 A. I had had discussions with other senior people in the
13 organisation regarding the distribution of the leaflet and
14 I had -- it had been proposed that I should, perhaps, look
15 to see if we can get a handle on the organisation. My
16 advice at that time, based mostly upon our legal advice,
17 was that this was an unincorporated organisation and that
18 if we were to take advice we would have to carry out some
19 kind of under cover work to identify the main organisers,
20 and if we got that information we would then have to build
21 a case against them. I felt at that time that, although
22 the leaflet was hurting, we would be unlikely to get a
23 satisfactory answer. That was my opinion at the time. I
24 was also, of course, conscious that such an operation could
25 prove to be extremely expensive and time consuming for
26 someone.
27
28 Q. Who was it that you discussed with in McDonald's the other
29 senior people, who was it you discussed this with?
30 A. The main person involved was Starman, who is the --
31 I think he is a senior vice president.
32
33 Q. Of the Corporation?
34 A. Of the Corporation, yes; he is an American.
35
36 Q. Right. Who else?
37 A. There were a number of media people there. I cannot
38 remember them all.
39
40 Q. Media people?
41 A. Media people; it was a media meeting.
42
43 Q. What do you mean by "media"?
44 A. The people in our Company who deal with the media.
45
46 Q. The public relations people?
47 A. Yes.
48
49 Q. Right. This was in 1987, was it?
50 A. No, I cannot be absolutely sure. It was either late
51 '87 or early '88, and this was just one subject on their
52 agenda. I only went into the meeting for this one subject.
53
54 Q. Was Mr. Yastrow there?
55 A. No.
56
57 Q. Was this a meeting in the UK or the US?
58 A. It was in the UK.
59
60 Q. So was Mr. Starman the only person from the Corporation?
