Day 149 - 06 Jul 95 - Page 38
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2 MR. RAMPTON: One needs to look at the previous answer. I do
3 not want to go back to that, my Lord. As I say, it may not
4 in the end matter very much. My Lord, in the end, what
5 matters, perhaps, your Lordship may think, is this, whether
6 the interests of justice require that Ms. Hovi should be
7 recalled and that Mr. Bone should be allowed to give
8 evidence.
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10 Your Lordship posed a question to Ms. Steel this morning
11 which I noticed she did not answer, which was this, whether
12 the recall of Ms. Hovi for further cross-examination and
13 the calling of Mr. Bone to give evidence-in-chief would
14 cause the Defendants any injustice.
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16 She did not answer that question; instead she launched into
17 a misconceived and ill-based attack on the Plaintiffs' and
18 Jarretts' bona fides. If I may answer the question, it is
19 plain that it would not cause the Defendants any injustice
20 at all for this reason, that if Ms. Hovi was telling the
21 truth the first time around, then, presumably, she can very
22 easily deal with what Mr. Bone now says.
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24 The second limb, my Lord, of this is, would the Plaintiffs
25 suffer injustice if Ms. Hovi were not recalled and Mr. Bone
26 were not allowed to give evidence? My Lord, in our
27 submission, the answer to that is plainly that the
28 Plaintiffs would suffer that injustice because your
29 Lordship would then be left with Ms. Hovi's evidence as it
30 is mostly uncontradicted even by me in cross-examination
31 because I did not have the time to find the material to
32 contradict her.
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34 One can see from Mr. Bone's statement what my
35 cross-examination might have been like and would be like on
36 a future occasion if I had been given the opportunity to
37 obtain the necessary instructions.
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39 My Lord, I leave this subject with the observation (which
40 perhaps your Lordship will think it cheap but,
41 nevertheless, I make it, and I make it which I would not
42 have done if we had been in chambers) that the Defendants'
43 desperation to prevent Ms. Hovi's recall and Mr. Bone
44 giving evidence betrays, we would say, once and for all
45 that their repeated assertion that in this case they only
46 want to get at the truth as a complete sham. My Lord,
47 I pass finally to the question of discovery.
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49 MS. STEEL: Sorry, can you just pause a minute because I am
50 trying to make a note and I cannot actually keep up?
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52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, Mr. Rampton?
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54 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I pass now to the final matter which
55 I have to deal with which is the Defendants' discovery
56 which we say is due on counterclaim. I endorse what
57 Mr. Atkinson said at your Lordship's prompting, namely,
58 that obviously both sides must make a proper list.
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60 The only outstanding aspect of that is this, that your
