Day 139 - 21 Jun 95 - Page 26
1 Murphy of the union did not dispute, and that is that, in
2 the context of this leaflet, any reasonable person would
3 believe that the things articulated here were operational
4 conditions that contaminated food in McDonald's
5 restaurants. That was the decision of the judge; that was
6 even the conclusion of the union, when the higher officials
7 became aware of what their people were doing and what their
8 people were releasing.
9
10 Q. It is a simple question.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The position is that if anyone bothered to
13 read on to the end of that, it expressly said the
14 conditions cited are some of the more blatant examples of
15 unsanitary conditions. It says there were others.
16
17 "All the conditions reported in the pre-operation reports
18 were correct at the start of operations. None of these
19 conditions resulted in any known incidences of
20 contamination of products", etcetera, "nor were there any
21 known illnesses or injuries."
22
23 But were you specifically thinking of that handout, or
24 whatever it was?
25 A. I am sorry, my Lord. What I was thinking of, what the
26 ordinary person, including myself -- when I first read this
27 leaflet, I became very concerned about our plant, because
28 it appeared the conclusion of this leaflet and the other
29 leaflets is that McDonald's Chicken McNuggetts are not
30 wholesome, are not made under sanitary conditions. That is
31 the conclusion.
32
33 Q. Do not bang the court table too much, Mr. Stein.
34 A. I am sorry.
35
36 Q. It has been there for about 100 years.
37 A. I beg your pardon, my Lord, but you can see I get
38 upset.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Bearing in mind that these are pre-operation
41 sanitation reports and they were corrected -----
42 A. But if you read the words, sir, it suggests that these
43 were the general conditions. I am sorry, I am doing it
44 again.
45
46 Q. But the actual -----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is being said is that you may pick a
49 leaflet which, if one reads the wording carefully, is no
50 doubt absolutely accurate, but what is being said is that
51 there were a number of leaflets and handouts.
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I would not be disposed to accept that
54 this leaflet was accurate. If one looks, for example,
55 either at the last sentence of that paragraph your Lordship
56 pointed to on the last page, or at the paragraph
57 immediately preceding the one Mr. Morris mentioned, I would
58 not accept that this pamphlet was accurate.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is there any respect in which that pamphlet
