Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 47


     
     1        they are drafted they become unchangeable except for
     2        circumstances ----
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  They do not become unchangeable.  They are
     5        very useful because you have to have something to work
     6        around and one has to have an element of discipline.
     7        Believe it or not, the end of the case you get further away
     8        as you go through it if you are not careful and that is an
     9        impossible position.  In other words, you start, say, in
    10        January 1994, you are aiming to finishing the evidence at
    11        something like, let us suppose just for the sake of
    12        illustrating the point, at the end of October, you hear a
    13        month's evidence and instead of the end of trial being nine
    14        months away, it is 11 months away.
    15
    16        There has to be some kind of schedule to aim at.  There has
    17        to be an element of discipline, even if it means abandoning
    18        some points you would like to make, so that you concentrate
    19        on those which you think are your best points and the most
    20        relevant points, and you can cope with the material which
    21        you have at the end of the evidence.
    22
    23        We must have a schedule to work from.  What are you
    24        suggesting?  You want Thursday and Friday and Monday and
    25        Tuesday, and then start Mr. Walker, do you?
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:  Or then start the Plaintiffs' case on the welfare
    28        and hygiene issues, yes.  If Mr. Walker is set down, that
    29        is fine.  The hygiene and welfare documents are extremely
    30        substantial and basically two days is just not enough time
    31        to prepare.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am assuming you have done some preparation.
    34
    35   MR. MORRIS:  For Mr. Gonzales we did not really go into the
    36        documentation at all; it was very general matters.  So,
    37        effectively, the time we have had to prepare has been for
    38        this part of the case, the packaging and forestry.  We are
    39        not objecting to a schedule being drafted, but we are
    40        trying to do it in co-operation with the other party.  A
    41        draft should be sent to us first and then we can make
    42        suggestions and try to come to a mutual agreement before it
    43        becomes the draft schedule or the proposed schedule.  We
    44        are trying to have a realistic schedule.  I know it is
    45        difficult in this case.  In fact, hygiene and animal
    46        welfare are two separate issues, although the same people
    47        are -----
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have to say, thinking about the matter
    50        during the vacation, it is obvious that food poisoning, as 
    51        it has been called, and rearing and slaughter go very much 
    52        hand-in-hand on some of their aspects.  What is the 
    53        situation so far as Mr. Chambers and Mr. Walker are
    54        concerned, Mr. Rampton?
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  Mr. Chambers has said that he will come, if the
    57        court should wish it, on 23rd January.  My Lord, quite
    58        apart from his convenience -- as your Lordship knows he is
    59        not a McDonald's person; he is employed not even by a
    60        supplier, a direct supplier.

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