Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 11
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Now, forgive me if I do read some things verbatim
4 and some things I expand on. Appendix 1 is entitled
5 "Genuine Belief and Public Domain":
6
7 "McDonald's UK have admitted publishing 300,000 leaflets
8 and press releases claiming that the Defendants and others
9 have lied to the public by distributing the London
10 Greenpeace Factsheet (a very serious allegation)..." If I
11 may add, their press release was vicious in its obsession
12 with the word "lies", which I think appears nine times in
13 one press release. It is clearly an attempt to attack the
14 credibility of the defendants on the eve of what was then
15 going to be the start of the trial.
16
17 "... and therefore the Defendants have counterclaimed
18 against McDonald's for libelling them. Paul Preston
19 defined a 'lie' as saying something untrue which you KNOW
20 to be untrue. This McDonald's must prove", we believe by
21 any sensible standard that the fact sheet was untrue and
22 that we knew it, each individual allegation. "... and the
23 burden of proof should be high due to the seriousness of
24 the allegation." He did not say we were mistaken, it was
25 deceptive, they said 'lies', that was the word they chose
26 and they chose it carefully.
27
28 "However, we will demonstrate not only that the evidence on
29 the facts vindicate the criticisms made in the Factsheet
30 but also (see below) that these criticisms were not and
31 cannot have been lies or made maliciously by the defendants
32 - they are all, as the evidence has shown, criticisms
33 which have been made widely for many years by respected
34 organisations, by substantial members of the public and by
35 McDonald's themselves. And McDonald's know all this. We
36 submit that McDonald's have been unable to bring any
37 evidence to defend themselves against the counterclaim."
38
39 "The basic points of the London Greenpeace Factsheet:
40 Are not new criticisms" - I will demonstrate that in a
41 minute.
42 "They are all in the public domain" - as we have heard
43 when we questioned Robert Beavers and through other
44 evidence in the case.
45 "Are general and standard criticisms of an industry and
46 basic modern economic processes/modern culture" - as
47 identified by your Lordship. A lot of them are just basic
48 common sense.
49 They have all been "backed up by authoritative defence
50 witnesses and by admissions from McDonald's themselves"
51 and, and this is an important point -
52 "Are contrasted with positive alternatives".
53
54 Not only in the fact sheet, but it was clear in the course
55 of the case that the defendants have possible alternatives
56 on all these issues. The last page of the fact sheet is
57 really about positive alternatives, which is part of the
58 context of the fact sheet, and that the positive
59 alternatives are important in terms of, if you just have a
60 gripe against Mac McDonald's and you don't care whether
