Day 046 - 04 Nov 94 - Page 78
1 does he know there a few complaints? Where are the
2 statistics provided by the Standards Authorities and
3 whatever? I mean, the point is, if we have an expert
4 witness there must be, unless the credibility of the
5 witness is shot to pieces in the first, you know, opening
6 section, they do not know what they are talking about,
7 there must be some kind of idea that they generally are not
8 going to make things up.
9
10 If particular documents are sought after they have finished
11 their evidence and it turns out they were completely lying,
12 they had completely misrepresented a report, then that may
13 be used to say that their evidence is not as credible as it
14 was. I think there has to be some kind of, dare I say,
15 trust on each side for the smooth running of the case.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not a matter of trust. I have to say
18 that many years experience dealing very largely with expert
19 witnesses, particularly in the medical field, has shown me
20 that witnesses of the highest personal standards and
21 professional competence are quite capable of making
22 ex cathedus statements, either which they cannot support or
23 referring to surveys and papers which, when one looks at
24 them closely, do not support the proposition they put
25 forward.
26
27 I am afraid it must be something to do with human nature,
28 but it is a fact of life. I cannot put aside all those
29 years of experience and just say: "I will accept a
30 scientific or other expert's statement of what the papers
31 show, unless someone produces a paper which contradicts
32 them". That does not accord with my experience.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: Whatever the general processes that we are trying
35 to set up during this trial, they have to apply to both
36 sides. Therefore, anything Mr. Rampton wants from Sue Dibb
37 would have to apply to Kenneth Miles.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I agree with that.
40
41 MS. STEEL: And it should have been served sometime last week
42 seeing as he was supposed to give evidence today.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It has to work both ways. If paragraph 9 of
45 his statement starts, "Research shows that advertisements
46 perform a valuable role of -- ", having said that, what
47 I am about to read out I would have thought you certainly
48 would not want to contradict, nor could it because it is a
49 very general statement, it is: "Research shows that
50 advertisements perform a valuable role of information
51 (query whether it is valuable) and persuasion for both
52 parents and children, especially where food is concerned".
53 Well, that is part of your case.
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do not see that Mr. Miles' evidence as
56 requiring the sort of what one might call academic support
57 for which if Miss Dibb's evidence (if it is to be credible)
58 plainly must do. Mr. Miles is called for a rather
59 different purpose if one read his evidence properly. He is
60 not talking about the same thing as Miss Dibb at all. He
