Day 146 - 03 Jul 95 - Page 42
1 this or that facility, then you will have to give me a
2 chapter and verse for that power, because at the moment
3 I am not aware of having any such power myself.
4
5 If you are suggesting that I not only can make a comment
6 but should one way or another, you will have to persuade me
7 about that.
8
9 The third factor, of course, like anyone else, I can say:
10 "Well, I do not want CaseView" or "I do not want a
11 transcript", but I would be grateful if you would help me
12 by telling me what your attitude to that is. If you are
13 content that I should continue to have CaseView if you do
14 not, and/or you are content that I should continue to have
15 a transcript if you do not, there we are. If you are not
16 content with that, I would like you to tell me why and
17 argue that. But I think you should think about it
18 overnight.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: Yes. If I can just say one thing? I cannot see
21 how it can be fair by any stretch of the imagination that
22 one party have a transcript and the other party does not.
23 I think that is what the Plaintiffs should think about
24 overnight. There are a lot of other issues raised by
25 Mr. Rampton's submission, but certainly I cannot see --
26 obviously, there are a lot of things about this case which
27 we may think are unfair but this would just compound the
28 unfairness in this case.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not indicating any view one way or
31 another on that, but even if I thought you were right about
32 that, it would not give me the power to order McDonald's to
33 provide you with a transcript any more -- this is the way
34 I am thinking at the moment -- than if someone was sitting
35 in the back row there and taking an accurate shorthand note
36 which was then being transcribed for the benefit of one
37 party I could say: "Well, therefore, the other party must
38 have it" or "I must have it".
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Can I ask? It is my understanding that the Lord
41 Chancellor has a fund that is available in certain
42 circumstances for a party in litigation. I cannot remember
43 where we got that from. It is something that -----
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have asked you to give me chapter and
46 verse. I do not know about it, so if there is one you had
47 better find out about it and let me know about it and try
48 to find out what principles, if any, there are as to its
49 administration.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: I just thought you might have heard about it.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. Knowledgeable though I may be, I do not
54 know everything and I am asking for your assistance in
55 relation to that. I am not aware of that. It may be that
56 the Lord Chancellor has been persuaded in very few cases to
57 provide a facility of this kind, but you had better try to
58 make some enquiries so that you can help me about it. That
59 is the whole purpose of talking this through this evening,
60 to tell you, apart from anything else you may want to say,
