Day 313 - 13 Dec 96 - Page 10

     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:   OK.  Just on point paragraph 1.1, where Mr. Rampton
     3        said that the use of the word 'lies' would be seen as no
     4        more than an emphatic form of falsehoods in the same way
     5        that someone might say that is a 'damned lie'.  Just,
     6        really, to say that I do not think that is a comparable
     7        statement when the word 'lies' appears nine times within
     8        one press release produced by McDonald's.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just let me look at that again (pause).  Yes.
    11
    12   MS. STEEL:   Just in relation to paragraph 1.2, that we stand by
    13        all the pleaded defamatory meanings that we pleaded in
    14        relation to the counterclaim and that the reason there are
    15        so many of them is because basically the accusation of
    16        lying is made so many times, in slightly different ways
    17        each time.
    18
    19        Right.  In terms of No. 2, where the Plaintiffs say it is
    20        important to note that the Defendants were not named in any
         of McDonald's press releases or the leaflets distributed in
    22        stores, it should be remembered that these documents were
    23        distributed by McDonald's as the trial was about to start.
    24        It was inevitable that there would have been media coverage
    25        of the trial even if, for example, the McLibel support
    26        campaign had not put out press releases.
    27
    28        By the way, when throughout this document I have referred
    29        to the McLibel support campaign press releases it is just
    30        as a shorthand way of naming all the sources which
    31        McDonald's claim they were responding to.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   It was inevitable that there would be media
    36        coverage of the trial since McDonald's are a major
    37        well-known company.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not go too fast.  I have to be able to
    40        follow what you are saying to me.
    41
    42   MS. STEEL:   Sorry.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL: You do have time whether you are anxious to
    45        finish today or not, but you will have plenty of time to go
    46        through what you want to say about the counterclaim.  So
    47        just take it at a speed where I can follow.
    48
    49   MS. STEEL:   OK.  If I say that again.  It was inevitable that
    50        there would be media coverage of this trial since the
    51        Plaintiffs are a major well-known company and therefore the
    52        Plaintiffs must have known that people receiving the
    53        leaflets, or the press releases, would learn, or would have
    54        learned already, our names from newspapers, television et
    55        cetera.
    56
    57        The Plaintiffs must also have known that any journalist who
    58        was remotely interested in covering the case would know our
    59        names.  Furthermore, it was obviously McDonald's intention
    60        that the media should report on the contents of their press