Day 083 - 06 Feb 95 - Page 43
1 there be an amendment, but let the Defendants be confident
2 that it will be the subject of a formal request for
3 particulars if it is not fully particularised when it is
4 served.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. You see, it is really when Mr. Cesca
7 comes back. We have to decide it well before then because
8 if there is any question of an amendment, and if there is
9 any question of discovery, there has to be time -- I say
10 "if" -- to deal with it before he comes into the witness
11 box, but it need not be dealt with before Dr. Gomez
12 Gonzales comes back because he has been in purda, and there
13 we are.
14
15 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, if there is an amendment (a) it ought to
16 be in good time before Dr. Gomez Gonzales comes back
17 because, no doubt, if there is to be an amendment, the
18 Defendants will want to ask questions about it of him who,
19 obviously, has some knowledge of this question though he is
20 not the Plaintiffs' principal witness on that issue, that
21 is Mr. Cesca. But I would say two things. First, that it
22 ought to be properly particularised before he comes back;
23 second, that if it is not, there ought to be sufficient
24 time that a request can be made and, if necessary, the
25 particulars can be ordered; third, if it contains material
26 upon which he might have evidence to give but because it is
27 an amendment he has not had a chance to think about, we
28 ought to be allowed to talk to him about it.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. One of the great ironies is he only
31 started working in 1991.
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: Mr. Cesca has, I think, been with the company
34 since 1987.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is why I was really wondering whether,
37 without any disrespect to Dr. Gomez Gonzales, to use a
38 colloquial phrase, it is any of his business because he
39 only came in in 1991 and we are, essentially, concerned
40 with times before that.
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: No, it is a piece of knowledge, if it is
43 knowledge, which he has acquired accidentally because it is
44 not his function in the company. His function is meat.
45 But that would be a matter for your Lordship. Your
46 Lordship could I think say: "Right, that is enough about
47 this from Dr. Gomez Gonzales. Save all this for Mr. Cesca"
48 but I am not making -----
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is my inclination at the moment.
51 I cannot see how the Defendants suffer from that because
52 Mr. Cesca is the man so far as that is concerned.
53
54 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, that is right. My Lord, if that be right,
55 then it would be, in my submission, the correct course to
56 leave over any further question of discovery in relation to
57 Brazil -- I say that against this background, that so far
58 as Vesty meat is concerned, all the discovery has been made
59 -- until we see what the amendment says and then we need
60 not spend any more time on it at present.
