Day 308 - 28 Nov 96 - Page 15
1
2 This is all designed to deter sympathy for myself and
3 Mr. Morris and, therefore, deter support and financial
4 backing which we needed to be able to fight this case. It
5 gives a totally different picture to the situation in
6 reality, which people would be sympathetic with, where we
7 have a bullying multi-national that has jumped on two
8 people who it has never contacted before and started libel
9 proceedings against them without any warning whatsoever.
10
11 Just going back to the pleadings in the Further and Better
12 Particulars of the reply to Defence to Counterclaim, the
13 answer under number 2 on the second page, about the fact
14 that "the Second Plaintiff has continued to publish the
15 said words in the press releases and leaflets", and that
16 "they know that the said words are false". We, therefore,
17 invite you to draw the conclusion that their motive in
18 publishing these words was a desire to vent their spite or
19 ill will towards myself and Mr. Morris. This is not asking
20 you to infer an event; it is asking you to infer from
21 events that this was their state of mind -- infer from the
22 facts presented by us to the court.
23
24 The second part, about: "The Plaintiffs having an improper
25 motive in publishing the said words, namely, the desire to
26 discredit the Defendants in the eyes of the media and the
27 public prior to the trial herein" -- the reasons we give
28 for that is that the character of the defamatory material
29 is to viciously attack the credibility of London Greenpeace
30 and of myself and Mr. Morris, for example, by emphasis of
31 the word "lies" through repetition; and we just say that,
32 obviously, that is just something that is self-evident from
33 reading the document; and, as we referred to, in one single
34 press release the words "lies" was used at least nine
35 times.
36
37 In terms of, additionally, McDonald's are aware that myself
38 and Mr. Morris were and are relying on donations from the
39 public to fight this case, that they published these press
40 releases and leaflets just prior to the commencement of the
41 main action; and, indeed, they have continued to publish
42 them throughout the main action; that they know those words
43 to be false; and, therefore, you can safely infer that the
44 reasons for publishing them is a desire to discredit myself
45 and Mr. Morris. Obviously, we would invite you to draw
46 that conclusion. We would say it is the obvious conclusion
47 to be drawn from their course of action.
48
49 Just in terms of them being aware that we were relying on
50 donations from the public to be able to fight this case,
51 they have actually referred to various documents, various
52 publications that are in the counterclaim bundles which
53 call for financial support for myself and Mr. Morris in
54 fighting this case, call for donations to be sent in.
55 Therefore, it is clear that the Plaintiffs are aware of
56 that fact, because these are all documents that were
57 disclosed by them.
58
59 The other point that we are relying on -- well, there are
60 two points. There is, firstly, the Greenpeace letter which
