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UK: Verdict in longest libel case

01 May 1997

After 314 days, and the longest libel trial in English history, Mr Justice Bell delivered his verdict in the $30 billion-a-year McDonald's hamburger company's case against two unemployed activists who handed out leaflets critical of the company. In a 1000 page judgement, summarised at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, he awarded the fast-food giant £60,000 damages for libel but acknowledged the accuracy of the leaflet when it accused the company of paying low wages, being responsible for some cruelty to animals and exploiting children in its advertising (see Statewatch Vol. 6, no. 3).

Helen Steel and Dave Morgan, both members of the London Greenpeace organisation (which is not linked to international Greenpeace), took part in pickets of the outlets during the late 1980s when they handed out the leaflets. McDonald's, after consulting with the Special Branch and hiring security firms to infiltrate and collect information on the activists, issued writs against five people involved with the organisation. Because there is no legal aid for defamation cases three of them felt coerced into apologising, while Steel and Morris were forced to represent themselves as "litigants in person" with free advice from a barrister and several solicitors.

Although the multi-national company has claimed that it was vindicated by the outcome, this is widely dismissed as hyperbole, and the case has more accurately been described as the "biggest corporate PR disaster in history". McDonald's spent over £10 million fighting the case and, while it won the majority of the legal points, the trial resembled an inquiry into their questionable practices. Regarding the damages, Steel and Morgan have made clear that they neither can nor will pay.

McLibel Support Campaign press release 19 & 20.6.97; Guardian 20.6.97.