Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 20
1 matters in relation to Preston which you did not, in fact,
2 plead, and which you are now finding yourselves potentially
3 barred from calling evidence about, then you must point
4 them out to me.
5
6 MS. STEEL: But I think this is the point that Dave is making;
7 that further points that we wanted to make from that report
8 are relevant to the original pleading of meat being
9 responsible for the majority of cases of food poisoning.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But the fact is they are not pleaded at the
12 moment, you see.
13
14 MS. STEEL: It is. It is questions about cooking temperatures
15 and meat and things like that which is -- it is the causes,
16 so it is in the pleadings already.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But they are not there. Everything you have
19 alleged about Preston in the pleading is at the moment
20 admitted. Do not continue the argument now. It is five to
21 1.00. We will break off. We will resume with Mr. Atherton
22 at 2 o'clock. But do consider the position logically as
23 I have done my best to explain my understanding of it.
24
25 If you think that you should, for instance, have had in the
26 paragraphs about Preston or an additional paragraph:
27 "Because the cooking temperatures were not high enough",
28 I do not know whether that is what you have in mind, but if
29 there is something like that, then you have to consider
30 whether you want to add something of that kind.
31
32 What you have to do is go through the exercise of thinking
33 what extra it is in relation to Preston because that is
34 what we are talking about, the admission in relation to
35 Preston, at the moment, what extra matter of fact it is
36 which you would like to get in.
37
38 MS. STEEL: The reason that I do not understand this is because
39 it has been accepted by Mr. Rampton (and, I believe, by
40 you) that we are entitled to ask questions about how
41 seriously they are taking it, and what steps they have
42 taken to prevent this kind of thing. This is exactly the
43 kind of thing that we were trying to get at when we were
44 asking questions about that document. I really just do not
45 understand why it is necessary to waste more time pleading
46 something that is, basically, in the pleadings already.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think if you want to go into Preston
49 further, you really ought to identify what it is additional
50 that you want to allege about. The point is objection has
51 been taken now. When we were arguing about BSE, as we
52 found out in relation to that compared with diabetes, if
53 objection is taken either by Mr. Rampton on behalf of the
54 Plaintiffs or by either of you on your own account, I must
55 rule on it according to the law.
56
57 I have said this more than once before. I am not,
58 essentially, going to go hunting throughout this case to
59 find what either side might have objected to, if they
60 chose, and then start taking the objections for them.
