Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 35
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2 MS. STEEL: Yes, about the Company's motives and ----
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4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am less interested in the Company's motives
5 at this stage in actually bringing the action in the first
6 place, because the trouble is we keep going round in
7 circles. Until I have actually ----
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9 MS. STEEL: I meant the motives of publishing the leaflet.
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11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- Just let me say what I was going to say.
12 Until I have actually decided whether parts of the leaflet
13 are defamatory and untrue, I cannot begin to judge the
14 motives of the Company in bringing the action just by way
15 of example if I found that the allegations were justified
16 in the leaflet defamatory or not, then it might be a short
17 route to saying that the Company just wanted to suppress
18 any criticism.
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20 On the other hand, if I found that a significant number of
21 the allegations in the leaflet were not justified but they
22 were untrue, then no doubt Mr. Rampton would argue in so
23 far as it was necessary or relevant for him to do so, well
24 a Corporation is entitled to try and put a stop to that
25 sort of thing. I only give this as an example and I cannot
26 really get to grips with the question of motivation and
27 bringing the action until I have begun to decide what in
28 the leaflet is true and untrue.
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30 We are then concentrating on the counterclaim element and
31 the requests which relate to that which are motivation for
32 the material which you complain of in your counterclaim.
33 I would like you to give a bit of thought to it over the
34 midday adjournment anyway.
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36 In so far as questions you ask do fairly directly relate to
37 that, then the questions and the answers to that may be
38 helpful to me, but in so far as they do not, is, to use a
39 colloquialism, just arguing the toss about the general
40 rights and wrongs and I am not interested in that at this
41 stage of the case.
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43 MS. STEEL: Right.
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45 MR. RAMPTON: Can I say one thing: With respect, I agree with
46 what your Lordship has said but there is one aspect which
47 makes it slightly more complicated, which is that one of
48 the features of the material put out by or on behalf of the
49 Defendants at the beginning of 1994 was to impugn the
50 Plaintiff's motives for bringing the action in the first
51 place.
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53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but I have to approach it on a reasonably
54 broad basis. I am not suggesting that when we get to
55 another witness, or another stage in the argument I will
56 say: "Well, that is not helping me". All I feel is that
57 with Mr. Preston in the witness box, we ought to focus.
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59 I will rephrase that. I feel it would be most helpful to
60 me to focus on the issues relating to the counterclaim
