Day 149 - 06 Jul 95 - Page 41
1
2 MR. RAMPTON: No. She is a Civil Evidence Act; she is an
3 American.
4
5 MS. STEEL: We have not had a Civil Evidence Act notice from the
6 Plaintiffs.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: Well, I tell you now.
9
10 MS. STEEL: We want it in writing, if you are going to be
11 awkward.
12
13 In any event, I wanted to add to this point that on
14 previous occasions it has been said that we should turn to
15 the Plaintiffs to see if they can assist where there is a
16 problem. For example, when the video that I used for the
17 purposes of this case broke down, or last year Mr. Rampton
18 talked about if there was anything we wanted assistance
19 with, photocopying or phone calls, then we need only ask.
20
21 I think it is entirely reasonable that the Plaintiffs
22 should pay for somebody to go through, comparing trial
23 bundles with the statements that they served on us, because
24 it was a problem that was created by them; it is not of our
25 making. We do not have the time to do it. We have 5,001
26 other things we have to get done; and there is absolutely
27 no reason why the Plaintiffs should not pay for this. If
28 they cannot even to agree to this, if they cannot even
29 agree to pay for this, which is a problem they have created
30 but which only affects us, which we do not have the time to
31 check, then that just shows up that their previous offers
32 to provide assistance are a complete sham and offers that
33 were made only made to prevent any adjournment and so to
34 keep up the pressure on us.
35
36 The thing about hormones raised with Mr. Gomez Gonzalez,
37 that he was actually relying on a couple of documents, and
38 the Plaintiffs have said it is not pleaded. I thought
39 I had a recollection -- though I may be wrong and it may
40 just be because I have read it thousands of times in the
41 Plaintiffs' publicity -- that they have asserted, certainly
42 in terms of this country, they do not use hormones. They
43 brought that up in someone's evidence-in-chief. Perhaps
44 I should check that up. There is not any particular
45 urgency about it, so maybe that could be left for now,
46 since we are going to do a pleading on pesticides and
47 hormones in any case.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: The next item, the Gary Davies report. I think it
50 may be helpful -- the crucial matter is whether what we
51 have pleaded, or the spirit of what we have pleaded, is
52 true, that Gary Davies was disgruntled with the hours of
53 work he had to work and, therefore, had to take some kind
54 of action -- which was obviously inappropriate but,
55 unfortunately, was taken. Therefore, if the report does
56 not include details of that, then the application should be
57 considered as an informal interrogatory for the Company to
58 state what the circumstances were in terms of whether Gary
59 Davies was working long hours.
60
