Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 34


     
     1        two, even suppose that I agreed that your Lordship should
     2        look at the newspaper articles as though they might be
     3        admissible evidence -- which, as the present law stands,
     4        they are not -- the question would be what your Lordship
     5        just pointed out a moment ago:  what on earth weight would
     6        one ever give them?
     7
     8   MR JUSTICE BELL:  As a matter of interest, I have reason to
     9        believe that the transitional provisions, as planned at one
    10        time anyway, were that the relevant sections of the new Act
    11        brought into force would not apply to orders or directions
    12        already made rather than proceedings started.  In fact,
    13        I have written to the gentleman in the Lord Chancellor's
    14        Department, pointing out the effects that might or might
    15        not have on this case.  We will just have to wait and see
    16        what comes.
    17
    18   MR. RAMPTON:   So far as this case is concerned, we have written
    19        to the Defendants, telling them -- your Lordship may have
    20        seen the letter, I do not know -- that so long as they will
    21        agree that residue of the documents which we wrote to Mr.
    22        Morris about in July or September, that we want agreed, we
    23        will agree to all their remaining documents, except for a
    24        handful, willy nilly, whether they be newspaper articles,
    25        campaigning documents, or whatever, subject always of
    26        course to the question of weight.  We are quite happy that
    27        Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel should festoon your Lordship with
    28        newspaper articles, knowing or believing, as we do, that
    29        they worthless.
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:   They are not as worthless as a lot of McDonald's
    32        statistical information; that is for sure.
    33
    34   MR JUSTICE BELL:  There is obvious difficulty in ordinary common
    35        sense with a newspaper article saying what someone is
    36        supposed to have said on the other side of the world.  But
    37        you have said, in any event, that you rely on other
    38        evidence in relation to that.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   I trust that all the comments that Mr. Rampton is
    41        making in relation to newspaper cuttings will equally apply
    42        to the ones that he is relying on for the proving of his
    43        counterclaim argument.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Let us wait and see what happens.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:   I have a few more general remarks.  (Pause)
    48
    49   MS. STEEL:   I have only got a couple of brief points.  One is
    50        on day 100.  I do not actually know whether this is in the
    51        list that Mr. Morris handed up or not.
    52
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Give it to me anyway.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:   Day 100, page 18, starting at line 59, Mr. Kenny
    56        gave the criteria for investigating alleged incidents of
    57        food poisoning.  He said that the complaints would be kept
    58        on computer, but that not every individual case is
    59        investigated; only if there was more than one in the same
    60        restaurant over a similar period of time, it would be

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