Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 17


     
     1        therefore, in the overall context of the case it should be
     2        ignored".  But, my Lord, what it does do is to exclude
     3        evidence on the topic.  That applies right across the board
     4        of the admissions that have been made.
     5
     6        It sometimes happens (and I freely admit this may be my
     7        fault for not looking at the Defendants' pleading more
     8        carefully) that the original pleading is so woolley that it
     9        is not apparent what the admission excludes viz. heart
    10        disease.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is what occurred to me.  I mean, in the
    13        best ordered litigation, the necessary factual matrix for a
    14        party's case, for instance, Ms. Steel or Mr. Morris' case,
    15        would be pleaded, and then the moment the opposing party --
    16        you -- admit any part or parts of that factual matrix, any
    17        further evidence on that part or parts of that factual
    18        matrix is excluded because it is otiose, it costs money and
    19        brings no benefit to the litigation to have it.
    20
    21        What had occurred to me, as I think you are now saying, is
    22        that having pleaded what they did, the Defendants were
    23        actually meaning to get at something additional which was
    24        not actually pleaded.
    25
    26   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, then -----
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  And they are worried that not having pleaded
    29        it and you having made an admission, they are excluded from
    30        calling evidence, to which the answer might be:  "Well, if
    31        there is something else which you should have pleaded, let
    32        us know what it is".
    33
    34   MR. RAMPTON:  Exactly.  What they must do, if they want now to
    35        make a different case from the case that they have made in
    36        those instances where I have served an admission, is seek
    37        your Lordship's leave to amend the terms of the pleading.
    38        I will see then whether I wish to oppose it; if I do and I
    39        am unsuccessful, then whether I want to admit the amended
    40        pleading or whether to contest it in its amended form to
    41        the extent perhaps only that it has been amended, leaving
    42        the original in its place.  One would have to take each
    43        case on its own merits.
    44
    45        My Lord, to go back to my original example, that problem
    46        does not arise, so far as I can see, in relation to the
    47        Preston incident, because after amendment, and they did
    48        amend it, it is in the reamended or rereamended Defence, in
    49        a much fuller form, I admitted the reamended form or the
    50        amended form.  That means for the purpose of this hearing 
    51        and this action that is the end of the story. 
    52 
    53        My Lord, in our respectful submission, that is what those
    54        authorities in the blue file plainly show.  There are some
    55        exceptions.  For example, salvage cases.  I am not quite
    56        clear why they are exceptional but, apparently, they are.
    57        But this is plainly not a special case in any sense.  It is
    58        an ordinary piece of civil litigation.  One party alleges,
    59        the other admits, that is the end of the issue, leaving
    60        aside any fair inferences that may be drawn on the facts

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