Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 35
1 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I mean, we are just, you know, unhappy that
2 there may have been a wealth of what might be called
3 hearsay, which could also be described from our part as
4 propaganda and generalities, from McDonald's witnesses from
5 day one of the case, and that it always seems to be that
6 the attention gets focused on to our witnesses; and that
7 may be because we are not represented and do not appreciate
8 when the time is to make objections. We just want to help
9 the case get along. I mean, obviously, if we are coming to
10 these statements and there is something which you feel is
11 completely irredeemably inadmissible, that is the process
12 we are going through now. But I think if there is any
13 shadow of a doubt whatsoever, then because these witnesses
14 cannot be questioned, you know, that is their evidence that
15 they have signed.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I agree with you, basically. I only propose
18 to rule out those parts, if anywhere, I think it is clear
19 to me, on the information I have got which is contained in
20 the statements themselves, that it is hearsay. I mean, my
21 provisional view is that some of the parts which
22 Mr. Rampton -- I have to hear what you have to say -- but
23 some of them clearly are hearsay, because it is difficult
24 to see how Mr. Magill could put it in his statement other
25 than because he has heard from someone else. Others, my
26 provisional view is that they might well not be hearsay
27 because it may be something he has heard from a Manager or
28 something like that. In a sense, that is hearsay but,
29 because it may be a declaration against interests of the
30 other party, it can go in.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I think that because this is, you know,
33 talking about the work experience, this is our general view
34 of all these matters. We can go through each point one by
35 one, which we will. The general point is it is a workplace
36 and there is a workplace culture and there is continuous
37 management input into that work environment, and when
38 people say -- for example, the very first one which is on
39 page 2 of Mr. Magill's statement, paragraph 4 -- "Some
40 people worked at the store for years and still did not have
41 all their stars", that is clearly common knowledge, if you
42 like, that some people have been working there for years;
43 it may be that they were told by those people, they were
44 told by the managers; it may be obvious from records that
45 they may have seen, or whatever; people may have shown them
46 documents, whatever it was. There are others like that
47 which are clearly part of the -- I mean, obviously, I could
48 defend that in any case and say, well, that is clearly
49 something that could have been said by a manager, "Oh,
50 those people there have been working there years and they
51 have not got their stars, so you should buck your ideas up
52 and make sure you are not like them." But I just think
53 that is important.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I may interrupt you, you are now arguing
56 the matter, which is what I want you to do. I have tried
57 to answer you on principle. When I give my rulings on
58 Mr. Magill, I am not going to delay the matter by waiting
59 while this is wordprocessed, but I will have a few
60 introductory sentences so that you understand the principle
