Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 09

     
     1        If you follow that course of wanting time to consider the
     2        argument, I will not allow any questioning in relation to
     3        BSE in the meantime.  If Mr. Rampton's argument succeeded
     4        that would not matter because we would not have any
     5        cross-examination or evidence led on the subject of BSE.
     6        If when I considered the matter later I thought that you
     7        ought to be allowed to amend your Defence, putting it in
     8        very general terms, to bring in the question of BSE, then
     9        we would have to go on to think about what evidence was to
    10        be called.  That might involve the recalling of past
    11        witnesses, if that happens.
    12
    13        I want to add something before you finish your discussions,
    14        let me say this.  It seems to me in all good sense the very
    15        first step is to think how you would express a plea of
    16        justification or fair comment which brought in BSE in some
    17        way.  The argument would then go from that.  If you have
    18        one which you can dictate here and now which you are
    19        satisfied about, well and good, otherwise you ought to go
    20        away, think about it and get your wording right.
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:  I think the thing is we feel that it is already in
    23        the pleadings under food poisoning ---
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The question is, do you want to argue that
    26        now?
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:  -- related to meat and the consequences of eating
    29        meat.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All I can say that is not my immediate
    32        reaction -- you may persuade me it is so -- and I am giving
    33        you the choice of arguing which will then put me to
    34        a ruling, or going away, setting out the way you say you
    35        would plead the matter and then arguing it.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  The difficulty we have is that we are quite
    38        prepared in some respects, although we have not got
    39        authorities to back up what we are saying, although, in
    40        fact, we believe that authority that was quoted is -----
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Unless I have misunderstood Mr. Rampton's
    43        submissions, you only come to his second point if he fails
    44        on the first.  If he is right on the first, that would be
    45        the end of the matter anyway.  Put very simply, that BSE
    46        has nothing to do with this leaflet; but if someone went
    47        out tomorrow and wrote and published a leaflet associating
    48        McDonald's in some way with bovinespongyformencephalopothy
    49        and McDonald's chose to sue them for libel in relation to
    50        that, then it very much would be, but it has nothing to do 
    51        with this leaflet written some time in the middle 80s and 
    52        published, it is alleged in so far as these proceedings are 
    53        concerned, in 1989 and 1990.
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  The problem is a sort of administrative one
    56        really.  Obviously, we want to get on with the matters that
    57        are in hand at the moment and while, obviously, we need to
    58        get advice maybe, or want to get advice, we do not want to
    59        hold up proceedings.  We feel that if half the witnesses on
    60        this subject have been heard, the Plaintiffs' witnesses