Day 002 - 30 Jun 94 - Page 57
1 off the top of my head.
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think that was rather different. There
was some interrogatory for discovery which I was not
3 prepared to order if she was going to be called, because
I thought it was an unnecessary step when she could be
4 asked about it in the witness box. But if the time came
when you knew that you were not going to call her, then
5 I wanted to reconsider discovery and interrogatories.
6 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I am sorry, that is my fault,
I misremembered what had happened, but it alters not at
7 all the substance of what I am saying which is this, that
if Dr. Neil Barnard is to come to court, then my task at
8 the moment, which is the relatively easy one of calling
Dr. Sydney Arnott and the other experts to deal with what
9 is in Dr. Barnard's statement and explain it to your
Lordship why it is unreliable and should be rejected, is a
10 completely different one because I then have to put all of
that to Dr. Barnard. That means I need a week's notice at
11 the very minimum.
12 MR. MORRIS: It is our intention to call Neil Barnard, Brian
Lipsett, Steve Gardiner.
13
MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us take it in steps. I would like you
14 to inform the plaintiffs and let me know either tomorrow
evening or on Friday morning if there are any of your
15 witnesses whom you propose to call with regard to
recycling and waste, just that compartment. Then sometime
16 around early or middle of next week, I would like you to
tell the plaintiffs and tell me if there are any of your
17 witnesses with regard to nutrition whom you intend to
call.
18
MR. MORRIS: Any of them or just the ones under the Civil Act
19 Evidence Notice?
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Any ones where you have given a Civil
Evidence Act Notice. In fact, what I would like you to do
21 is to say which ones you intend to call. That covers ones
who are not under Civil Evidence Act notice in case for
22 any reason you have had a second thought about wanting to
call them or being able to call them.
23
MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, there is this further consideration and
24 what flows from it the promises which one gets must be
considered firm promises and not merely expressions of
25 wish or intention. As your Lordship observed earlier, if
these people are to be called as witnesses, I shall need
26 to try to arrange to have my experts at court while they
are giving their evidence. That is not just a question of
27 my personal convenience; that is a considerable nuisance
and inconvenience for busy professional scientists. They
28 need to be given as much notice as possible. It may not
be possible, but to be told at this late stage in the case
29 that I have to find a date in, what, the third week of the
trial for my experts like Professor Duxbury or whoever it
30 is, to be in court while they listen to Mr. Lipsett,
really does create the very greatest difficulty. The same
