Day 002 - 29 Jun 94 - Page 55


     
     1        the irrelevant material, has been blanked out.
 
     2        We believe that we have faithfully obeyed all the orders
              which your Lordship has made in relation to discovery.  We
     3        observe that in a number of cases the defendants have made
              applications for discovery to your Lordship which have
     4        been refused.
 
     5        My Lord, since this is an allegation of bad faith, I give
              one example:  We found not long ago a number of documents
     6        relating to the use of imported beef dating back to
              1982/3.  I read some of those to your Lordship yesterday.
     7        That file was discovered by accident in the offices of the
              solicitors when they were looking for something else.  It
     8        was searched for in America and in Canada and it was not
              found.
     9
              I ask this rhetorical question, then I will sit down:  Is
    10        it really to be supposed that if the plaintiffs were
              concerned to conceal material that they would have gone
    11        about the matter in that way; that they would have sat on
              documents of that nature deliberately?
    12
              My Lord, I ask your Lordship to accept that the plaintiffs
    13        have been faithful in their obligation to discovery, and
              that if there are not in their discovery the documents
    14        which do not help the defendants to prove their case, that
              is because such documents do not exist.
    15
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What about the witnesses whom Mr. Rampton
    16        referred to?
 
    17   MISS STEEL:  I think the situation is the same as the situation
              which, you may remember, with Eva Marie Sasche who is a
    18        witness on behalf of the plaintiffs.  They served a Civil
              Evidence Act notice, as have we. They may call her as may
    19        we call our witnesses.  It is dependent on whether we have
              the finances to bring those witness here.  Basically, the
    20        position is we want to bring them to give their evidence
              live, but if we have not got the money to do it, we had to
    21        serve a Civil Evidence Act notices so that their evidence
              could at least be available to the court in the form of a
    22        statement.
 
    23   MR. RAMPTON:  I understand that.  I am only concerned about
              notice.
    24
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  What I suggest you do, you can do it
    25        entirely without prejudice in the sense that you are not
              committing yourself, is in so far as you intend to call 
    26        someone unless something unexpected crops up, say, you are 
              going to call that person, that does not commit you to 
    27        call someone.  It just means your present intention is to
              call that person.
    28
              If there are people whom you would like to call but you
    29        are not sure for some reason, whether it is availability
              or for some financial reason, say:  "We would like to call
    30        this person but we do not know yet whether we can".  That
              enables everyone to get a better grasp of what is likely

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