Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 19
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You see ----
2
3 MR. MORRIS: -- they are admitting that it relates to that
4 pleading.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They have admitted everything you have said
7 about Preston because the admission follows the wording at
8 the bottom of page 2 of tab 5, and the reference to
9 Preston, the words "were responsible for an outbreak of
10 food poisoning in Preston in early 1991" adds nothing to
11 what is at the bottom of page 2.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: Yes. I have a different page system here because
14 I have the old numbering.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, very well. It is the first page of
17 actual text in tab 5. That bottom paragraph is admitted in
18 its entirety; the admission made on 6th July 1994.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: Yes. They also admit -----
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It has the word "that" at the front and then
23 follows, unless I have missed a word here or there, the
24 wording at the bottom of page 2 of tab 5.
25
26 MR. MORRIS: I am getting very confused.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: By all means check it again.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: Yes. All I am pointing out is that the pleading on
31 Preston is in the context of response to the -- it is an
32 admission -- it is a pleading that is going to
33 justification of the main pleading of meat being
34 responsible for the majority of cases of food poisoning,
35 particularly chicken and minced beef as used in burgers.
36 So, the admission of the pleading is in relation to that.
37 Do you see what I am saying?
38
39 MS. STEEL: If it is any help, I think part of the confusion is
40 that the order in which the pleadings are in tab 5 is not
41 the order in which they were originally pleaded because of
42 all the amendments.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You come back to that in the future but at
45 the moment -- you see, what you are not allowed to do,
46 Mr. Rampton has said that he is not joining any issue at
47 the moment anyway about the admissibility of evidence as to
48 what his client's reactions were or were not to the Preston
49 facts as admitted, what you are not allowed to do, he
50 contends, is rub it in by calling further evidence, the
51 admission having been made.
52
53 MS. STEEL: I think there is a problem with that which is that
54 Mr. Rampton specifically objected to us asking questions
55 about the Public Health Laboratory Service report. There
56 are other things in that report which -----
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause there because you have gone on to
59 what I was saying only a few minutes ago. If, on
60 reflection, you think you ought to have pleaded other
