Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 48
1 Proceed".
2
3 MR. MORRIS: So was that a collective decision of the board of
4 directors in Chicago, based in Chicago?
5 A. I do not know how the decision was reached out there.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Who was it who said something to that effect
8 to you?
9 A. The members of my board, Mike Quinlan, Fred Turner, Jim
10 Cantelupo, are also corporate board of directors members;
11 they happen to be the senior chairman, chairman of the
12 board, chief executive, officer and president.
13
14 Q. Who was the third gentleman?
15 A. Jim Cantelupo. They are the senior chairman, chairman,
16 chief executive and president of McDonald's International
17 -- chief executive, McDonald's International.
18
19 Q. So they, in effect, intimated that the First Plaintiff
20 should be joined as well?
21 A. Yes.
22
23 MS. STEEL: Just a couple of other points. Was the McDonald's
24 Corporation party to the decision to issue the leaflets and
25 press releases that are the subject of the counterclaim?
26 A. I do not know.
27
28 Q. You do not know?
29 A. I am not sure. I think I would be surprised if my
30 communications people did not say, "Here is what is going
31 to happen; here is what we are intending to do". I think
32 the matter was left to us here at the local scene to get on
33 and do what we thought was most necessary as this would be
34 handled here.
35
36 Q. Right. Your position as someone who is here to represent
37 McDonald's Restaurants Limited is that myself and
38 Mr. Morris deliberately made false statements about
39 McDonald's; is that right?
40 A. I believe that which is contained in the leaflet we are
41 questioning was known by yourselves to be false, or you did
42 not care that it was not true and went ahead and published
43 it anyhow, yes.
44
45 Q. Which is it?
46 A. It is both.
47
48 Q. So far as you are concerned, we did deliberately publish
49 information which we knew was false?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 Q. When I say "you", I am talking about you on behalf of the
53 Company?
54 A. Yes.
55
56 Q. Your position is as a company which was reflected in the
57 leaflets that you sent out to all the stores and press
58 releases that you sent out was that myself and Mr. Morris
59 were deliberately deceiving the public when we knew that
60 the leaflets were false, that the contents of the leaflets
