Day 080 - 30 Jan 95 - Page 61


     
     1        call him, before Dr. North, have you not?
     2
     3   MR. RAMPTON:  I know that, my Lord, but frankly -----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not for a moment querying any decision
     6        you may make.  That is entirely a matter for you.
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord.  There is plenty of authority that in
     9        certain circumstances your Lordship has the power to give
    10        me leave to call rebutting evidence, if -- we ought not to
    11         -- Mr. North departed it significantly from what is in his
    12        witness statement.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, if what might amount to new evidence, as
    15        it were, came in.
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  Exactly.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  We would have a right to call Mr. Clark, would we
    22        not?
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  If the Plaintiffs decided not to call him.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  There is no property in witnesses.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  If we call him, the Plaintiffs will still have a
    31        right to question him, would they?
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  They will be able to cross-examine, yes.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   Is there some reason why Mr. Rampton does not want
    36        to call him?
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  I do not want to waste time.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not going to enquire into that.  All
    41        I can say, in my experience, is frequently parties do not
    42        call witnesses, either factual or expert, who they have
    43        there available to be called because the evidence has come
    44        out in a way which makes them think that there is no point
    45        in calling them.  They may have other motives, I do not
    46        know.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:  What would happen then if he did not call Mr. Clark
    49        and then we decided not to call Mr. North?
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  Then there would be no case against McDonald's 
    52        Restaurants whatsoever. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  That is not quite true, actually.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not prepared to argue about that now.
    57        Mr. North is your witness.  You can decide whether to call
    58        him or not.  You, for instance, said some time ago that you
    59        were not going to call a witness.  I did not enquire into
    60        why that should be.  I certainly did not draw -- it has not

Prev Next Index