Day 313 - 13 Dec 96 - Page 52
1 we should not have to pay damages to them in the light of
2 them discrediting us pre-trial.
3
4 I think that is all on damages -- yes, wrongly discrediting
5 us, obviously.
6
7 I want to see if we have any final points. I mean, I do
8 not know how long Mr. Rampton is going to take. We are
9 rushing.
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: If your Lordship will indulge me by, maybe, ten
12 minutes this afternoon, I will certainly finish subject to
13 anything your Lordship wants to ask me. I know of one point
14 your Lordship has mentioned. I am very anxious not to come
15 back on Monday, if it is unnecessary.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: We will just skate through as fast as we can.
18 Sorry, we are not doing these necessarily in the most
19 considered and -----
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just sit down and collect your thoughts for a
22 moment. (Pause).
23
24 MR. MORRIS: Just the other thing in terms of no damages is that
25 the unlawful act by the Company, whether they are
26 sufficient to prove our case or not, certainly damage
27 McDonald's reputation in terms of employment, in terms of
28 what we have revealed about the strategy with Ronald
29 McDonald and pester power which goes against the spirit
30 and, we believe, the letter of the Advertising Standards
31 Authority on praying upon children's emotions - the fact
32 that they advertise their food as nutritious and portray it
33 as nutritious when it clearly is not as a whole, as we have
34 heard from the United States laws, and the fact that they
35 say on their packaging that it is recyclable when they lost
36 a case on that by the Advertising Standards Authority, and
37 the fact that they clearly do not conform to the Codes of
38 Practice in, for example, the animal slaughter, especially
39 with chickens, for example, which are the only protective
40 laws or regulations.
41
42 So, again, whatever the final meaning and final verdict on
43 those sections, the fact that we would argue they have
44 broken the law substantially we say would have the effect
45 of lowering their reputation and, therefore, meaning they
46 would not be entitled to damages on those sections.
47
48 I have finished on that subject. Just in terms of -- one
49 point I have on this bit of paper here is regarding the
50 Haringey affidavit, we certainly do pray in aid the counter
51 affidavit which I swore on oath about the truth of the
52 matter. I have some things which I can probably deal with
53 in writing which were just references to transcripts.
54
55 I am missing out a lot of stuff. I am just skating through
56 this document here.
57
58 In Mr. Rampton's closing submissions on malice, point 6,
59 point 12(6), about all the issues which he says are
60 irrelevant, we think they are all relevant, so it cannot
