Day 255 - 23 May 96 - Page 56


     
     1
     2   MR. RAMPTON:  That is right.  But I would submit, if I had to,
     3        that that would be so.  It seems there is a case --
     4        I cannot remember where it is now -- which says if the
     5        client gets an agent to do something for the purposes of
     6        litigation, contemplated or pending, so the client can go
     7        and get the advice from the solicitor.  In fact, he never
     8        does so and the document never reaches the solicitor.  It
     9        is still privileged.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  OK.  What I was asking, on what you told me,
    12        that is all very interesting.
    13
    14   MR. RAMPTON:  I agree.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But it does not matter in this case because
    17        they were obtained for and passed to the solicitor anyway.
    18
    19   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.  That is subject to absolutely 100 per cent
    20        confirmation.  But that is my belief, yes.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You can check that.  The point is I may not
    23        have to worry about the extension which came as news to me
    24        and it appears may have been news to you as well.
    25
    26   MR. RAMPTON:  It was.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you say, rightly or wrongly, that it is
    29        covered by the general rule as to communications with the
    30        solicitor for the purpose of obtaining advice.
    31
    32   MS. STEEL:  The extension?
    33
    34   MR. RAMPTON:  No, not the extension.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will spend a minute or so, so you can take
    37        it away with you in your minds.  What I thought
    38        Mr. Rampton's submissions would be that all information
    39        about inquiry agents' investigations and observations is
    40        privileged because, he would argue, it was obtained for
    41        passing to the Plaintiffs' solicitors and, in fact, passed
    42        to the Plaintiffs' solicitors for the purpose of obtaining
    43        advice in relation to legal proceedings which were
    44        contemplated and, in so far as it related to matters after
    45        30th September, 1990, had, in fact, been instituted.
    46
    47        Then I anticipated that he would go on and say:  So all
    48        information about such investigations, all such information
    49        is covered by privilege.  The moment he proposes to call a
    50        witness about that information, or put in a document about 
    51        that information, or show me a photograph which gives some 
    52        of that information, he, in fact, waives privilege so it is 
    53        no longer covered by privilege; and rather than wait until
    54        a witness goes into the witness box and Mr. Rampton puts in
    55        his statement or asks questions about it, which would
    56        result in waiver of information about that inquiry agent's
    57        investigations, it is obviously much more convenient to
    58        say, "I waive that now well ahead of time", and you can
    59        have relevant discovery to it, and so on.
    60

Prev Next Index