Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 71
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What can you say about that?
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4 MS. STEEL: I think we should be finished on Monday, although
5 I would not want to give 100 per cent cast-iron guarantee.
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7 MR. RAMPTON: I do not understand. If Ms. Steel is saying that
8 she is going to go or there is some chance she might go
9 past the end of Monday, frankly, I am appalled. I was
10 hoping we might finish by lunch-time on Monday so that I
11 could start with one of the Scottish academics.
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13 MS. STEEL: I really would not want to -- I do not know.
14 I would not want to guarantee that at all. I do think we
15 will be finished by Monday evening.
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17 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I know it is a peculiar case, this;
18 I hope your Lordship will agree that I have been reasonably
19 patient, but I do have in mind, as I know your Lordship
20 has, the recent practice direction of the Lord Chief
21 Justice. One of the things to which he made specific
22 reference was the length of cross-examination. There are
23 distinct and clear issues in this case. I do say with some
24 feeling that I do not believe that in the last two days we
25 have spent more than about an eighth of the time on dealing
26 with the issues in this case.
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28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it is only fair to say to Dr. Jackson
29 that he does not need to be here before first thing on
30 Tuesday morning.
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32 MR. RAMPTON: So it would appear.
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34 MR. MORRIS: May I say something on the length? Most of today
35 was taken up, in my opinion -- I have said it before --
36 reinventing the wheel on the grounds that we have an
37 admission from the Plaintiffs that they are responsible for
38 a food poisoning incident in Preston in 1991, and then
39 muddying the water so that we have to virtually start from
40 scratch to prove what they have already admitted.
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42 It is a problem in this case of the Plaintiffs' admissions
43 being not what they seem, and also that they take some
44 times the most ludicrous positions which defy common sense;
45 for example, saying that the minimum wage is not low pay so
46 that we have to justify things which, frankly, are a waste
47 of everyone's time.
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49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause there. I cannot do very much
50 about what the issues are in the case; the issues are there
51 and, therefore, they have to be tried out and the evidence
52 has to be called. In recent months judges have started to
53 imposing time limits on the parties and said: "You must
54 get through this part of your case within that period of
55 time and if you have not completed it, it is just too
56 bad".
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58 The Lord Chief Justice on Tuesday of this week issued a
59 practice direction dealing with judges putting time limits
60 on the parties. This case is taking a long time. If you
