Day 087 - 10 Feb 95 - Page 30


     
     1        earlier.  The fact that a counter notice has been served
     2        means that the Civil Evidence Act notice statement goes
     3        into limbo until such time as it is seen, whether or not
     4        the witness appears in court.  It may stay in limbo forever
     5        if your Lordship is not satisfied with the Defendants'
     6        reasons for not calling the witness having received a
     7        counter notice.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What practical difficulty is there in you
    10        serving any counter notice by a week today?
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  Just because I need time to think about it.
    13        I have not read the report.  I have an awful lot else to do
    14        rather more urgent than that, a lot of it, and I really
    15        would not want to be under that kind of time pressure.  A
    16        week today is only next Friday.  I would be calling
    17        evidence all of next week.  A fortnight today, that I can
    18        comfortably live with because at least we have, in theory,
    19        some of the following week off.  It is not the sort of
    20        decision one lightly makes, particularly -----
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is the difficulty about making the
    23        decision?  I have every sympathy with the demands of a
    24        heavy case and the demands on one's time.
    25
    26   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I am not willing to say what difficulties
    27        might arise until I have had a chance of considering the
    28        report, thinking whether I want that person down here or
    29        whether I prefer just to have a Civil Evidence Act Notice
    30        on it.  I need to discuss it with my solicitors and with my
    31        clients.  Also, I am in this impossible position at the
    32        moment, that at present the whole statement is inadmissible
    33        because it is irrelevant, or probably is, and I do not how
    34        the Defendants will, as it were, rejig their case yet again
    35        to try to get it in.  I do not know what allegation it is
    36        that I have to deal with in relation to Preston.
    37
    38        If I am to be allowed less time to serve a counter notice
    39        thus deciding, in effect, that the witness should be called
    40        because he or she is in England -- she it is, I think, in
    41        this case -- then by the same token the Defendants should
    42        produce their proposed amendment before I have to make that
    43        decision.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  We are happy for the Plaintiffs to have two weeks
    46        because the week after next in any event is not going to be
    47        any new witnesses, so, effectively, it does not matter in
    48        terms of cross-examination.
    49
    50   MR. RAMPTON:  But, my Lord, what I do say is that if I do not 
    51        have the Defendants' proposed amendment in relation to 
    52        Preston before it is time for me to serve a counter notice 
    53        on Friday the whatever it is, then I shall apply to your
    54        Lordship for leave to extend my time in accordance with my
    55        entitlement under the rules.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  I mean, we are hoping to get the amendment.  We
    58        have done some draft and we are going to discuss it at
    59        lunch-time in any event.  I mean, I just think that all the
    60        pressure is being put on us all the time.

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