Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 5

 
 

                                                                  DAY 233
 
                                                  HOWARD LYMAN, Examined:
 
 
 
     1        practice for me.  I would not sell cattle to a
     2        slaughterhouse I had not visited.
     3
     4   Q.   Do you know whether any of those slaughterhouses or --
     5        sorry, did you answer -- yes.  Do you know whether any of
     6        those slaughterhouses or process plants were companies that
     7        supplied McDonald's?
     8        A.  Absolutely.
     9
    10   Q.   How -----
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I have had no notice of this.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   We are not going to go into any particular
    15        criticism of any particular slaughterhouse.
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  Well, my Lord, the critical factor which is
    18        missing from everything that Mr. Lyman has written on
    19        paper, including as recently as 26th February, is that he
    20        is not able to say anything about McDonald's operation at
    21        all.  If he was to come to this country -- and his trip has
    22        been planned a long time in advance -- and make allegations
    23        that I could have been in a position to deal with if I had
    24        had warning, then I should have had notice.
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:  I think Mr. Rampton is worrying unnecessarily.  The
    27        only point that is going to come out is that all the
    28        slaughterhouses are effectively the same; there was nothing
    29        unusual about any of them.  I do not think there is
    30        anything to worry about.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not concerned if the effect of
    33        Mr. Lyman's evidence is that: "Right across the USA
    34        everyone farms in this way or all the slaughterhouses I
    35        have been to in the USA" -- although, actually, there is
    36        only passing reference to slaughterhouses in the
    37        statement.  So I will wait and see what we do about that.
    38        What there may be concern about, which I think Mr. Rampton
    39        was intimating, is if it is said there was something
    40        specific to McDonald's, rather than an inference that since
    41        this is the generality it must apply to McDonald's.
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:   No.  That is the only point, that basically they
    44        are all -----
    45
    46   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I am not concerned about slaughterhouses
    47        particularly, but I am concerned about the processing
    48        plants, because Mr. Lyman has written -- with what direct
    49        knowledge, I do not know -- but he has written quite a lot
    50        about the labelling in the United States.  Your Lordship 
    51        knows what the Plaintiffs' evidence is about that.  If 
    52        Mr. Lyman is going to on to say that his evidence about 
    53        labelling applies to the plants which specifically supply
    54        McDonald's, then I would have been taken unaware and ought
    55        not to have been.
    56
    57   MS. STEEL:   The slaughter -----
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Does it relate to that or not?
    60
 
                                      5