Day 139 - 21 Jun 95 - Page 62


     
     1        A.  Not at all; not at all.  It did not have any relevance
     2        at all.
     3
     4   Q.   And that whether Mr. Miller lived in Puerto Rico or not was
     5        irrelevant.  That is just completely a line you have made
     6        up to justify anti-union behaviour by the Corporation; is
     7        it not?
     8        A.  Absolutely not.  You have no idea of what you are
     9        talking about and you had better get some real facts.  This
    10        is throwing around some wild accusations that have
    11        absolutely no substance and fact.
    12
    13   Q.   I think people can draw their own conclusions from the
    14        facts?
    15        A.  I think they can very easily
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  I do not believe that Mr. Morris should make
    18        speeches to the witness.
    19
    20   MR. MORRIS:  It is not a question of making speeches to the
    21        witness.
    22
    23   MR. RAMPTON:  The witness has been accused of lying.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  The trouble is if you
    26        make a comment about what conclusion is to be drawn from
    27        the evidence you insight the witness, if he does not agree
    28        with you, to make comment of his own and, as I tried to say
    29        a moment ago, comment for later to me and I will draw the
    30        conclusions from the evidence which I have heard.
    31
    32   MR. RAMPTON:  I would observe this, and I know I keep saying it,
    33        but Mr. Morris is very free with his accusations that
    34        witnesses are lying, that they have made things up.  He has
    35        just told Mr. Stein that he made up this story about
    36        Mr. Miller's residence being unsatisfactory to McDonald's.
    37        It is not altogether surprising, if a man who is an honest
    38        witness, if he be, should react strongly; it really is not.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  I am not criticising him from reacting strongly.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The only lesson to be learned from this the
    43        future is that if you make a strong comment on the effect
    44        of the evidence you must expect strong comment back from
    45        the witness box, and neither your strong comment, nor the
    46        witness's strong comment, is the least bit helpful to me at
    47        this stage.  By all means put to the witness if it be your
    48        case, although you should not put it, unless you have some
    49        real grounds for it, but if you consider you have real
    50        grounds for the suggestion then put it to the witness: 
    51        "That is untrue" but put it as simply as that. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:  That was the other thing I was going to mention my
    54        Lord.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Leave it for a moment.
    57
    58   MR. RAMPTON:  May I say this because it will arise in the future
    59        and I am concerned about it.  If counsel put accusations of
    60        dishonesty and lying with the frequency that Mr. Morris

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