Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 60
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I want you to do is bear in mind what I
3 have said in the last few minutes and see if you cannot get
4 a day and a half or preferably a couple of days, two
5 genuine days, evidence of your witnesses next week. Go
6 away and think about that over the weekend.
7
8 MS. STEEL: Can I say, I mean, it is Mr. Morris who has been
9 speaking to Mr. Lamti, but the Plaintiffs did say something
10 about they were going to bring up something that they have
11 got up their sleeve. We do not really know how long
12 Mr. Lamti is going to take.
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: Can I tell your Lordship -- I will be quite candid
15 -- your Lordship said when we had Mr. Jenssen in the
16 witness box that though Mr. Jenssen had spilled forth a
17 quantity of material that I was not prepared for,
18 nevertheless, I should try and deal with it as best I could
19 simply because Norway is at the end of a telephone and
20 Norwegians speak English, which is all perfectly true, and
21 we did the best we could.
22
23 Your Lordship did say that you took a completely different
24 view in relation to France, and that your view at that time
25 was that nothing should be added to the written statements,
26 unless five days notice was given. We have had three and a
27 half days notice of some new matters which may not be
28 desperately important, but some new matters on which
29 I presently have not got any instructions and may not have
30 any by Monday morning.
31
32 My cross-examination of Mr. Lamti, I have nothing up my
33 sleeve, as Ms. Steel puts it, and I never said that I
34 have. My cross-examination of Mr. Lamti is limited,
35 necessarily limited, by the rule of French law which
36 I explained to your Lordship some time ago. I do have some
37 matters to put to him. I am not willing to tell the
38 Defendants now what those matters are. Mr. Lamti will
39 probably have a jolly good idea anyway. I will put those
40 few matters and that will be that. How it can be thought
41 that Mr. Lamti might take even up to lunch-time, I just
42 cannot imagine, even though he will have to be interpreted.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will not repeat what I have said. I am not
45 attracted by the idea of just having some evidence on
46 Monday and then nothing for the rest of the week.
47
48 MR. RAMPTON: No, I agree.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it is in everyone's interest to get
51 on through the evidence as quickly as we can. The more
52 preparation days we have during the evidence, in all
53 fairness, the less time one can expect -- I am going to
54 give you some time for preparation of speeches after the
55 end of the evidence -- the more days we have all had to
56 work on on the case between witnesses, the less time one
57 can reasonably expect between the end of the evidence and
58 starting submissions. I am not saying that inter rorum; it
59 is just obvious. But I am sure you will bear in mind what
60 I have said this afternoon. Let us just leave it there and
