Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 37
1 attended those meetings and I think they should have to
2 disclose that.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What do you say about that, Mr. Rampton?
5
6 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I would like to give it some thought.
7 I cannot remember at the moment what the reason is why the
8 people who were there have been blanked out. I do not
9 suppose there is anything sinister about it. I do not
10 remember Mr. Nicholson ever having his name on this list
11 actually but we will look at that again.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would urge you to take a generous attitude
14 towards giving the information because it is difficult to
15 see how it can relate to privilege. We can argue until the
16 cows come home as to whether it is relevant or not but it
17 is ----
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: I agree with your Lordship. It would be very
20 unlikely that it was a question of privilege; it is much
21 more likely it was a question of relevance and it may be
22 that I shall maintain an objection on the ground of
23 relevance because I am not obliged to make discovery in
24 order to help the Defendants fish for a different case.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I can understand why one should want to take
27 that view so far as material within the memo is concerned,
28 but I would ask you to think over whether it is really at
29 the end of the day helpful to sustain that view with regard
30 to who was actually present.
31
32 MR. RAMPTON: That certainly is one approach and in an ordinary
33 case, I would veer to your Lordship's approach and
34 say: "Well, it may not be relevant but really does it
35 matter?" In the circumstances of this particular case,
36 rather different considerations apply and I have, from time
37 to time, applied as strict a test of relevance as I
38 have felt able to do so simply because I do not want the
39 information to fall into the hands of the Defendants.
40
41 Whether looking back at the list of people there, I still
42 feel that, I do not know, but Mr. Atkinson and I ----
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: One thing which occurs to me is if we know
45 who was actually present by having the relevant boxes at
46 the head of the documents completed, one knows straight
47 away whether it is worth asking anyone who actually comes
48 into the witness box whether can help about any of the
49 topics which are raised on what has been disclosed.
50 Otherwise, when someone like Mr. Nicholson comes into the
51 witness box, we have got to spend time where he has been
52 asked: Was he present or was he not, when one can see at
53 an instant whether he was or whether he is not unless and
54 until the good faith of whoever wrote in who was present is
55 challenged.
56
57 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I understand that practical advantage, but
58 I am not without further thought willing to concede
59 that----
60
