Day 263 - 14 Jun 96 - Page 14


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It may well be -- I do not know -- that the
     3        rationale of the General Accident case is that you would be
     4        entitled to other notes and reports in relation to those
     5        meetings, because it is only fair that you should have
     6        them, but the balance of fairness would fall against you
     7        when it comes to actual witness statements, or something of
     8        that kind.  Happily, it seems that I am not going to have
     9        to decide that, because they are not there.  You are not
    10        asking for them -- perfectly sensibly, it seems to me --
    11        because the notes and or reports should be good enough for
    12        your purposes, and Mr. Rampton says there are not any,
    13        anyway.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   Yes.  I mean, I had thought of some differences
    16        between them.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is just to put your mind at rest, that
    19        that is what I was on about.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:   I had actually thought of some -- there was some
    24        kind of deference between them, which I would deal.  But
    25        seeing as we are not applying for statements, I will not.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If I had been put to it, part of the problem
    28        would have been to specify what the difference was between
    29        them, if I wanted you to have one but not the other.
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:   But you do not want us to do that?
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   OK.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, I do not want you to do it if (a) you
    38        are not asking for them and (b) Mr. Rampton says there are
    39        not any -- and I have no reason to doubt what he says.
    40        Some other judge can grapple with that some other day.
    41
    42   MS. STEEL:  Right, OK.  I will just check what other things I
    43        need  to cover. (Pause)  Just on the point I was on
    44        slightly before, I mean, the  Plaintiffs have asserted that
    45        we are core members of the group; and, obviously, in terms
    46        of whether or not that is the case, the entire records of
    47        the meetings which agents attended would be relevant to
    48        that picture and throw light on that picture.  One thing I
    49        see is that I cannot see -- well, it did not seem that the
    50        Plaintiffs have pleaded how their agency argument works, in 
    51        terms of whether it is through mere attendance, through 
    52        being in charge or through taking part in anti-McDonald's 
    53        discussions, or what.  So that seems to be up in the air.
    54        We do not know what Mr. Rampton is going to argue at the
    55        day, and there may very well be relevant material in terms
    56        of any of those things within the rest of the notes.
    57
    58        One thing was suggested, that by Mr. Rampton saying that
    59        there was nothing going on at those meetings of relevance,
    60        in effect, he is giving evidence about what happened on

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