Day 205 - 17 Jan 96 - Page 15
1 remember that as, in fairness to you, you mostly have.
2
3 If I have given you the impression that I am trying to shut
4 you up when you want to say something, then I regret that.
5 I certainly have not intended to do that. There have been
6 occasions when advocates on both sides, as, in my
7 experience, happens virtually in every case, are
8 remembering part of what has been said and not all of it.
9 But that is really just got to be treated as water under
10 the bridge.
11
12 If there is anything more that you want to say on this, do
13 so, but when you have said what you wanted to say, I will
14 see if Mr. Rampton wants to say anything further at this
15 stage. But, I do not want you to be in any doubt that I do
16 see the word "torture" as it appears in "McTorture" as
17 something upon which the Plaintiffs rely in part, at the
18 very least, for their argument that I am to infer utter
19 indifference into the text of this leaflet. I anticipate
20 -- again I may be wrong -- at the moment that what the
21 Plaintiffs will say is that what is defamatory of the
22 Plaintiffs is the allegation of utter indifference to
23 welfare of the animals which become McDonald's products and
24 inhumanity for which it is alleged they say that they are
25 responsible in the treatment of those animals, whether
26 during rearing or slaughter. Those are the defamatory
27 statements.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: Right.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which brings me back, they say that that
32 cannot be justified on the facts in this case, particularly
33 there are specific allegations in the leaflet like
34 slaughtering while still conscious which cannot be
35 justified, you say that if one looks at their inferential
36 meanings and visualise the part of Duncan and Neil that I
37 have quoted, since they are inferential meanings, you are
38 allowed not just to point to evidence which might reflect
39 on things which appear in the leaflet like slaughtering
40 while conscious, but anything else which might be deemed to
41 be an inhumane or indifferent practice which shows utter
42 indifference -- we can forget the "utter" probably; it does
43 not add anything to indifference. Therefore, one has to
44 look at the whole picture and I have to ask myself at the
45 end of the day is an allegation of utter indifference, if
46 that is what I get from the leaflet, substantially
47 justified by the facts?
48
49 MR. MORRIS: I mean, it is not that we are making a meal of
50 this; it is just that I think the last piece of paper that
51 Mr. Rampton referred us to was -- I cannot remember the
52 date -- day 186 which is pretty recent, some time at the
53 end of November, and it was page 49 of day 186. I do not
54 know what the date was -----
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was the date again?
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, it is 10th November last year.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What page?
