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Re: McLIBEL TRIAL BREAKS ALL BRITISH LEGAL RECORDS



McMcMcMc <mcspotlight@globalnet.co.uk> wrote:

>McLibel Support Campaign: c/o 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK
>Tel/Fax  +44-(0)171 713 1269
>For comprehensive information on the case and McDonald's 
>(independent from MSC and the McLibel Two): http://www.McSpotlight.org/

>P r e s s   R e l e a s e  -  29th October, 1996

>McLIBEL TRIAL BREAKS ALL BRITISH LEGAL RECORDS

>On Fri 1st, Mon 4th or Tues 5th November (Day 292 of the trial)*, the
>McLibel Trial will become the longest trial of any kind in British history.

>The longest British trial until now is the Tichborne personation case which
>lasted 291 days, ending in 1874 (see Guinness Book of Records, 1987 p.212).
>(The record-holding Tichborne case actually comprised two trials, one civil
>lasting 103 days, and one criminal lasting 188 days).

>One or both of the McLibel Defendants - Helen Steel (31) & Dave Morris (42)
>- will be present outside the main entrance of the High Court from 9.30am on
>Day 292.

>The main reason that the case is taking so long is because McDonald's is
>alleging that every criticism in the Factsheet is libellous.  Those
>criticisms are common sense views on matters of great public interest.
>Defending such views has made the case very wide-ranging and has resulted in
>evidence being heard from around 180 witnesses.  Often, McDonald's is
>forcing Steel & Morris to prove the obvious - for example, that much of its
>packaging ends up as litter, that diet is linked to ill-health, and that
>McDonald's pays low wages to its workers.

>Editors' Note:  * Please ring the McLibel office on the above number for
>confirmation of the date.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>The McLibel Trial, between the $30 billion a year McDonald's Corporation and
>two supporters of London Greenpeace (Helen Steel & Dave Morris), began on
>28th June 1994 and is now set to run to the end of 1996.  It is already by
>far the longest civil case in British history (see the latest Guinness Book
>of Records, p212, for details).  It is also almost three times as long as
>any previous UK libel trial (the previous longest being a mere 101 days!).

>McDonald's are suing Steel & Morris for alleged libel over a 6-sided
>factsheet produced by London Greenpeace, entitled "What's Wrong With
>McDonald's?".  This leaflet (and later versions) has now possibly become the
>most widely known and distributed protest leaflet in history.  Over 2
>million leaflets have been handed out to the public in the UK alone since
>the action was started and thousands of people have pledged to continue
>circulating the leaflets whatever the verdict.  Every phrase in the current
>"What's Wrong With McDonald's?" leaflet has been fully referenced to
>documentary evidence and oral testimony in the McLibel Trial, mostly from
>McDonald's own sources.  (The Referenced Leaflet is available from the
>McLibel Campaign).

>The Defendants, were denied their right to a jury trial and, with no right
>to Legal Aid, are forced to conduct their own defence against McDonald's
>team of top libel lawyers.  The denial of a jury caused Marcel Berlins, a
>leading legal commentator, to remark "I cannot think of a case in which the
>legal cards have been so spectacularly stacked against one party".

>All the evidence in the case was completed in July and the Closing Speeches,
>which are expected to last several weeks, began on 21st October.

>Steel & Morris are going first, followed by Richard Rampton QC for
>McDonald's.  The Defendants dealt on the first day with the unfairness and
>oppressiveness of UK libel laws and their use as censorship, and then spent
>4 days analysing and summing up the considerable evidence of McDonald's
>responsibility for deforestation in Central and Latin America.

>Mike Mansfield, a leading UK QC, stated last month:  "The 'McLibel' case is
>the trial of the century as it concerns the most important issues that any
>of us have to face living our ordinary lives. This David and Goliath battle
>has it all."

>The issues in the case, on which 180 witnesses have given evidence, and
>which are being summarised in the Closing Speeches, are as follows:
>*  The connection between multinational companies like McDonald's, cash
>crops and starvation in the third world.
>*  The responsibility of corporations such as McDonald's for damage to the
>environment, including destruction of rainforests.
>*  The wasteful and harmful effects of the mountains of packaging used by
>McDonald's and other companies.
>*  McDonald's promotion and sale of food with a low fibre, high fat,
>saturated fat, sodium and sugar content, and the links between a diet of
>this type and the major degenerative diseases in western society, including
>heart disease and cancer.
>*  McDonald's exploitation of children by its use of advertisements and
>gimmicks to sell unhealthy products.
>*  The barbaric way that animals are reared and slaughtered to supply
>products for McDonald's.
>*  The lousy conditions that workers in the catering industry are forced to
>work under, and the low wages paid by McDonald's.  McDonald's hostility
>towards trade unions.

>The Defendants believe that critics of the fast food giant have been
>vindicated by the evidence in the case, particularly by admissions made by
>McDonald's executives and paid consultants in the witness box under
>cross-examination.  Here are some brief highlights from the trial, which are
>being referred to in the Closing Speeches:
>*  McDonald's are still obtaining beef for their stores in Brazil from
>ranches on recently cleared Amazonian rainforest land (testimony of experts
>S. Branford, Prof S. Hecht, based on facts supplied by McDonald's suppliers
>in Brazil).
>*  A McDonald's internal memo (USA, 1986) was read out: "We can't really
>address or defend nutrition.  We don't sell nutrition and people don't come
>to McDonald's for nutrition".
>*  The corporation's official and confidential 'Operations Manual' was read
>out: "Ronald loves McDonald's and McDonald's food.  And so do children,
>because they love Ronald.  Remember, children exert a phenomenal influence
>when it comes to restaurant selection.  This means you should do everything
>you can to appeal to children's love for Ronald and McDonald's."
>*  McDonald's admitted that the polystyrene packaging collected during a
>nationally-publicised UK scheme "for recycling into such things as plant
>pots" was in fact "dumped" (testimony of Ed Oakley, Vice President of
>McDonald's UK).
>*  David Walker of McKey Foods (sole hamburger supplier to McDonald's UK)
>admitted that "as a result of the meat industry, the suffering of animals is
>inevitable".
>*  McDonald's have admitted that they were responsible for an outbreak of
>E.Coli food poisoning in Preston (UK) in 1991, in which people suffered
>serious kidney failure.
>*  Two dozen ex-McDonald's workers testified for the Defence about the poor
>pay and conditions; and trade unionists from around the world gave evidence
>about their experience of organising in the face of McDonald's hostility to
>trade unions.
>*  Five private investigators hired by McDonald's to infiltrate London
>Greenpeace in 1990 testified at the trial.  Three admitted handing out the
>Factsheet complained of and therefore the Defendants are preparing to sue
>them for damages after the verdict, if they lose the action.

>During the trial, the exhausted Defendants had repeatedly requested a ruling
>that, in the interests of justice, the Closing Speech of McDonald's should
>be presented first.  At a hearing on 7th Oct, the Defendants had submitted
>that such a ruling would enable them to hear what case they had to answer
>before summarising their Defence, and also would give them some further time
>to prepare.  In their Closing Speech, Steel & Morris have the impossible
>task of analysing all the evidence relating to eight separate major issues,
>40,000 pages of documentary evidence, and 20,000 pages of transcript
>testimony, as well as dealing with many complex legal arguments and
>submissions to the judge, Mr Justice Bell.  Steel & Morris, unrepresented,
>have few resources and have no experience in preparing and presenting
>Closing Speeches.  McDonald's, with their team of top libel lawyers and
>assistants, have had every advantage in this case, but Richard Rampton QC
>strongly opposed the Defendants' application, and the Judge ruled that the
>Defence had to go first.  A Defence application on October 17th to the Court
>of Appeal for more time to prepare was rejected.

>The court is open to members of the press and public, most days from 10.30am
>in Court 35, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2.  Ring 0171 713
>1269 for details.


>NOTES TO EDITORS

>(1)  The McLibel Trial is a mammoth legal battle between the $30 billion a
>year McDonald's Corporation and two supporters of London Greenpeace.  Helen
>Steel (bar worker, 31) and Dave Morris (single parent and ex-postman, 42)
>between them have an annual income of approximately 7,000 pounds.
>McDonald's are suing Steel & Morris for alleged libel over a 6-sided
>factsheet produced by London Greenpeace, entitled "What's Wrong With
>McDonald's?", which McDonald's allege they distributed in 1989/90.  [London
>Greenpeace, was the first Greenpeace group to be set up in Europe - back in
>1971.]

>(2)  The Trial began on 28th June 1994 and became the longest civil case in
>British history in December 1995.  A total of approximately 180 witnesses
>from the UK and around the world have given evidence in court about the
>effects of the company's operations on the environment, on human health, on
>millions of farmed animals, on the Third World, and on McDonald's' own
>staff.  They include environmental and nutritional experts, trade unionists,
>animal welfare experts, McDonald's employees, top executives, and five
>infiltrators employed by McDonald's.  The Trial is set to run until the end
>of 1996.

>(3)  Steel & Morris were denied their right to a jury trial and, with no
>right to Legal Aid, are forced to conduct their own defence against
>McDonald's team of top libel lawyers.  The denial of a jury caused Marcel
>Berlins, a leading legal commentator, to remark "I cannot think of a case in
>which the legal cards have been so spectacularly stacked against one party".

>(4)  After McDonald's issued leaflets nationwide calling their critics
>liars, the Defendants took out a counterclaim for libel against McDonald's
>which is running concurrently with McDonald's libel action, leading to two
>separate verdicts on each of the main issues.

>(5)  At the time of the first anniversary of the Trial (June 1995), it was
>widely reported that McDonald's had initiated secret settlement negotiations
>with Steel & Morris.  They twice flew members of their US Board of Directors
>to London to meet with the Defendants to seek ways of ending the case.
>McDonald's were, and still are, clearly very worried about the way the case
>is going for them and the bad publicity they are receiving.

>(6)  The case is receiving publicity worldwide.  The columnist Auberon Waugh
>described the trial as "the best free entertainment in London".  A
>confidential internal memo from McDonald's in Australia (leaked to and
>broadcast widely by the media last year) revealed the Corporation's dilemma
>around the world with media coverage of the trial: "Contain it as a UK
>issue".  "We could worsen the controversy by adding our opinion".  "We want
>to keep it at arms length - not become guilty by association".  "This will
>not be a positive story for McDonald's Australia".  The aim is to "minimise
>any further negative publicity".

>(7)  It's clear that McDonald's aim of suppressing the "What's Wrong With
>McDonald's?" leaflet has totally backfired.  Over 2 million leaflets have
>been handed out to the public in the UK alone since the action was started
>and thousands of people have pledged to continue circulating the leaflets
>whatever the verdict.  Protests and campaigns against McDonald's continue in
>over 24 countries.  And now there is an internet site called 'McSpotlight',
>an on-line library and campaigning tool, which makes available across the
>globe 2,500 separate files containing everything that McDonald's don't want
>the public to know (http://www.mcspotlight.org/).  McSpotlight has been
>accessed four million times since its launch in February 1996.

>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS
>1997 edition, page 212
>LEGAL MATTERS - Longest hearings

>The longest British trial was the Tichborne personation case.  The civil
>trial began on 11 May 1871 and collapsed after 103 days, on 6 March 1872.
>The criminal trial went on for 188 days.  On 28 Feb 1874 Arthur Orton, alias
>Thomas Castro, who claimed to be Roger Charles Tichborne, the elder brother
>of Sir Alfred Joseph Doughty-Tichborne, 11th Bt, was sentenced to two counts
>of perjury.  The whole case thus spanned 1,025 days, but the jury were out
>for only 30 minutes.

>The longest civil case in British history is the 'McLibel' trial, which
>began on 28 June 1994 and was continuing in summer 1996.  McDonald's
>Corporation are suing Helen Steel and Dave Morris for libel over a factsheet
>entitled "What's wrong with McDonald's?".





>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>U.S. McLibel Support Campaign                              Press Office
>PO Box 62                                        Phone/Fax 802-586-9628
>Craftsbury VT 05826-0062                    Email dbriars@world.std.com
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>http://www.mcspotlight.org/
>http://www.interlog.com/eye/Misc/McLibel
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>[McSpotlight Press Release - 29 oct 96]
> http://www.mcspotlight.org/

>M c S p o t l i g h t   i n   C o u r t   3 5 :
>- providing daily reports of each day’s proceedings

>·       Nowhere else can you get such in-depth and up to date
>information about the McLibel trial. McSpotlight volunteers are
>attending court every day to provide reports until the end of the trial.

>·       Now everyone can judge for themselves. McSpotlight provides
>highlights of the case; the evidence, closing speeches, and the legal
>controversies.

>        For example: [From Day 286, 24 October 1996]
>Returning from lunch, Mr Morris .... quoted Mr Rampton (McDonald’s QC),
>who had said that when the first McDonald’s restaurant was opened in
>Costa Rica in 1970, some of the land on which the beef was raised had
>been rainforest up to the 1960s. Mr Rampton interrupted, claiming that
>this was not an admission despite having said it during his opening
>speech!

>Another piece of evidence regarding Costa Rica, was claimed by Mr
>Rampton to be inadmissible because it came from a statement by
>McDonald’s UK Public Relations Officer Eddie Bensilum, who had not been
>called to give evidence. However, she had been interviewed by the
>journalist, David Rose of the Observer who had testified for the defence
>that she had told him: “I think the world would accept that before that
>time it was rainforest. We have to accept that. All we can do is to
>ensure that deforestation, does not continue on our behalf.”

>·       McSpotlight also carries key articles about the trial from the
>world’s media    - in effect an extensive archive of articles and
>quotes.

>Other disputes in the McSpotlight :

>·       In Camden, despite objections by McDonald’s, the council made
>the ‘unprecedented decision’ to allow McSpotlight volunteers to film the
>proceedings of a planning meeting, in order to provide coverage of
>McDonald's attempts to obtain late night licenses in the face of local
>opposition.

>             Video shock in Big Mac licence bid
>          Camden New Journal, Thursday 17 October 1996; UK

>·       In East Grinstead, where local residents are objecting to
>McDonald’s plans to turn a local pub into a drive-thru, McSpotlight
>volunteers attended a public meeting. They demonstrated the web site and
>showed the locals that campaigners around the world are fighting
>McDonald’s and can win!

>·       Following McDonald’s latest attempt to monopolise the ‘Mc’
>prefix, McSpotlight interviewed the REAL Ronald McDonald as part of its
>comprehensive coverage of current affairs relating to McDonald’s.


>For more information about McSpotlight please turn over


>McSpotlight: Uncensored and Unstoppable on the world-wide web
>The McSpotlight Internet site was launched on Feb. 16th 1996 in London,
>Chicago, Helsinki and Auckland. It’s aim is simple - to make freely
>available across the globe accurate, factual, up-to-date information
>about the McDonald’s corporation and all they stand for (of pressing
>importance given the approach of the end of the infamous McLibel trial).
>Having now been accessed over 4 million times it has received coverage
>all over the world:

>USA Today, Channel 4, Times of India, The Guardian, BBC Radio4, NBC TV,
>Die Tageszeitung, The Australian, LA Weekly, Helsingen Snomat (Finland), 
>The Telegraph, Chicago Tribune, Korean Times, The Independent, 
>Money OnLine Daily, The Observer etc

>McSpotlight has been constructed by the McInformation Network, an
>international network of volunteers working from 14 countries. It is
>autonomous from, but supportive of, the McLibel 2 and the McLibel
>Support Campaign.

>As one of the new breed of internet sites starting to make full use of
>the world’s most powerful communications system, McSpotlight combines
>text, graphics, video and audio into an accessible and interactive
>package that can be used by campaigners, journalists, researchers,
>scientists, and surfers alike - not to mention all McDonald’s customers
>and employees wanting to find out the reality behind the Golden Arches.



>“There for everyone who cares to log on, is ‘McSpotlight’
>Every testimony against the company, every revelation,
>every blunder and admission has turned up on
>international ‘mirror’ sites so they cannot be wiped.
>... the ultimate anti-McDonald’s experience.”
>        - The Guardian, 9th March 1996

>“Spare a thought for the judge.
>In McSpotlight, the case is neatly laid out, with
>hypertext links making everything accessible and
>easy to follow. All he has is a pen and endless notebooks.”
>        - New Statesman, July 1996

>“An image conscious corporation’s worst nightmare”
>        - Colombia Journalism Review, August 1996

>“Witty site chock full of fascinating details.
>Everything McDonald’s doesn’t want you to know.
>Pay it a visit while you still can.”
>        - Internet Today, July 1996

>“If Web sites are the asteroids of cyberspace,
>surely the McSpotlight page is its Death Star.”
>        - InterActive Week; 22nd July

>“It is claimed to be
>‘the most comprehensive source of information
>on a multinational corporation ever assembled’
>- and that doesn’t sound  like an exaggeration.”
>-The Guardian, 22nd February 1996

>McSpotlight Key Features:
>2,500 files - approx. 100 McLibel witness statements, company
>publications, scientific reports, newspaper articles, cartoons, extracts
>from books, internal company memos and so on.
>The Debating Room - a moderated discussion group within the website,
>providing a global forum for discussion and debate about McDonald's and
>all they stand for.
>RealAudio Guided Tour - the McLibel Defendants show you around the site
>telling the story of the McLibel case and pointing out McSpotlight's key
>pages and features.
>Guided Tour of McDonald's own website - McSpotlight takes you around
>McDonald's site pointing out all the inaccuracies and untruths.
>Campaigns - autonomous pages for 24 countries (many run by local
>campaigners).
>RealAudio interviews - with the McLibel Defendants and others.
>Video Clips (Quicktime movies) - including a key piece of evidence from
>the trial linking McDonald's with rainforest destruction.
>The McQuiz - satirical quiz using quotes from McDonald's executives to
>emphasise the company's immoral strategy and attitude.
>Previously suppressed material - escapees from earlier censorship
>attempts by McDonald's
>Other McLibels - details of other law suits brought by McDonald's
>against the media, trade unions and campaigners.
>Beyond McDonald's - other corporations in the McSpotlight, including
>Nestle, Pepsi, Unilever, Shell, Smithkline Beecham, and Mitsubishi..




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