Day 008 - 07 Jul 94 - Page 73


     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  The problem is this.  I am discussing
              hypothesis.  If I should come back to your Lordship and
     2        tell your Lordship on Monday -- sorry, tomorrow, whenever
              I first find out -- that in fact those people can do that
     3        week, I ask the question, where does that leave the case?
              This is a time of year, as your Lordship knows, when
     4        academics tend to disappear to the United States for
              conferences.  For all I know, they delayed their
     5        departures for those events in order to give evidence in
              this case on these given dates.
     6
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You will have to, or Mrs. Brinley-Codd will
     7        have to, find out.  But I am determined, if I possibly
              can, to give the defendants a few days before we start
     8        nutrition.  I am not going to be more precise than that.
              Quite apart from what is in their interests, I think it
     9        could very well be counter productive ---
 
    10   MR. RAMPTON:  I agree.
 
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  - if I try to compress the further
              preparation they need to make into too short a timescale.
    12
         MR. RAMPTON:  I accept that.  The other thing -- I know the
    13        defendants will not think anything of this -- but in a
              case of this character -- I know McDonald's is an
    14        enormously big corporation -- I do not want to talk about
              insignificant things -- but time is money, and the longer
    15        it goes on -- I know it does not matter to the defendants;
              they may be very pleased about it -- the longer it goes on
    16        the more money it costs McDonald's.
 
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not going to hear any more argument
              about this this afternoon.  I want people to go away and
    18        think about it.  I am certainly not going to just give you
              a couple of days before we start nutrition.  You are going
    19        to get more than that.  To my mind, the issue is probably
              whether we can usefully start nutrition towards the end of
    20        next week or the beginning of the last week in term, or
              whether it has to go over to September.  Those are the
    21        three choices.
 
    22   MR. MORRIS:  Just one extra point.  There is the response to
              the counterclaim; that will be, I believe, by Friday
    23        15th.  That may raise some issues. It needs to be
              considered because every witness after that---
    24
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Take it step by step.  I am bearing in mind
    25        that whatever you say you must know quite a lot about your
              nutrition case, having come this far along the road, and 
    26        what I want to do is give you what I think, doing fairness 
              between both parties, both sides, is sufficient to get 
    27        ready to make a fair fist of cross-examination insofar as
              you can of the plaintiffs' witness on nutrition before we
    28        start it.
 
    29   MR. MORRIS:  It would be useful if the plaintiffs could maybe
              do a redraft of the schedule.
    30
         MR. RAMPTON:  No, I cannot possibly do that until I have spoken

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