Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 41


     
     1        will be taking place on the Friday in any case, but there
     2        is a possibility I would have Thursday afternoon off if
     3        everything goes well.  It is pushing it a bit, so obviously
     4        I prefer not to have to come back to court for Thursday
     5        afternoon.  I am hoping that I will not be required to
     6        attend here on Friday because of the funeral.  All I am
     7        saying is, I am letting the court know what the details
     8        are.  I do not want to keep people in the dark.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you have anything to say about that?
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  No, I regret the passing of time.  We could use
    13        Thursday afternoon because we could make progress with Mr.
    14        Nicholson, and every time we slip termination of the case
    15        recedes.  I do not make any complaint about funerals; that
    16        is one of life's rituals.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us take Friday for your funeral come what
    19        may, but so far as Thursday is concerned when will you
    20        know?  What puzzles me is -- and I am not doubting what you
    21        tell me -- a meeting on Thursday at 12 and I had assumed
    22        that the court case, if it was going to go ahead at all,
    23        would be at 10.30 on Thursday.
    24
    25   MR. MORRIS:  I could try to rearrange that meeting for 10.30 if
    26        I can make another phone call now, for example, in which
    27        case it should be all cleared up in time for me to get here
    28        by two o'clock on Thursday afternoon if people felt that
    29        was the best course to take.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is a question of moving on steadily if
    32        we can, there is also the question of trying to finish Mr.
    33        Nicholson in the relatively near future rather than have a
    34        ten-day break before we -- or maybe more -- complete him.
    35        If you had said you were meeting your solicitor early on
    36        Thursday morning because that might mean that the case
    37        settled and it was not effective, I would understand that,
    38        but Thursday at 12 moon seems to me to be in the middle of
    39        the first morning of the trial, unless it is settled
    40        already.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  There was a technicality about why the hearing was
    43        in doubt, and I just spoke, literally at five past 2 before
    44        I came back in, and she said 'let us arrange a meeting'.
    45        She said the hearing had been put off because of the
    46        technicality but she was having negotiations with counsel
    47        and it looks like there might be a settlement.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I have in mind is the most sensible
    50        thing from the point of view of this trial would be if your 
    51        meeting was later in the afternoon on Thursday with your 
    52        solicitor and then we would have our normal 10.30 start, go 
    53        on until about three o'clock or something like that, you go
    54        off and see your solicitor if it is important to see her on
    55        Thursday, and you would wish to attend the funeral on
    56        Friday.  The advantage of that is we do not have an element
    57        of doubt hanging over the consequences of a meeting in the
    58        morning with everyone geared up possibly to come at 12
    59        o'clock or two o'clock on Thursday.
    60

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