Day 165 - 27 Sep 95 - Page 49
1 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, we will make this enquiry.
2
3 MS. STEEL: I do not know, but the distinct impression I get is
4 whatever we want Mr. Rampton tries to fix it to make life
5 as difficult for us as possible. We have tried to be
6 helpful with the Canadians witnesses. A minute ago he said
7 he did not want the witness to start in the middle of the
8 week. As soon as we said if he had to come before
9 Christmas we were in favour of the 11th, it was suddenly,
10 "Oh, now I will investigate if he can come in the middle
11 of the week". I do think Plaintiffs should be equally
12 considerate and helpful as we are.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I have asked for the enquiry to be made
15 about Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th, Friday 8th or Monday
16 11th. If he is fixed to start on any of those days and
17 because of the way the case runs you think you are not
18 going to have sufficient preparation time, it may be, I am
19 not prepared to decide now, that we will have to abandon or
20 postpone one or two of the witnesses who were going to come
21 before so you have more preparation time. The two matters
22 of principle really are these, that I think he should be
23 given a start date which we stick to and, secondly, it
24 should be a start date if at all possible on one of those
25 four days.
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, we are grateful to your Lordship.
28
29 MS. STEEL: Could preference be given to the 11th if at all
30 possible and the Plaintiffs actually state to Mr. Cesca
31 that that is the desirable date if it is at all possible?
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let me just make a note. The note I have put
34 into my book is that Mr. Cesca should be given a fixed
35 start date. It should by strong preference be Monday, 11th
36 December but alternatively Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th or
37 Friday 8th if he can attend on any of those days.
38
39 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, we will see how he is fixed.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Rampton, this is not a shot at you in any
42 sense, but if he cannot attend on Monday, 11th December
43 I will ask you why.
44
45 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I should say this ----
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You may have a ready explanation of why, but
48 it has been said time and time again that this is an
49 important case for your clients. I know he holds an
50 important position in the Corporation, but you will have to
51 balance what his priorities are.
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: If that is your Lordship's preference it will be
54 made perfectly clear. I say no more than that. What I do
55 distinguish between is the convenience of witnesses on the
56 one hand and what I regard as something other on the part
57 of the Defendants, but I say no more than that.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I am trying to avoid, if one possibly
60 can, is just putting you on the one hand to call all the
