Day 164 - 26 Sep 95 - Page 19


     
     1        inspection in court.  I do not want to spend a week at
     2        their offices -- in fact, I do not want to spend five
     3        minutes in their offices -- inspecting a document
     4        which  ------
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is being put to you is that you may have
     7        to if you want to see this at all, you see.  If you think
     8        I have a power to order McDonald's to bring it to court
     9         -----
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  I think that the court has an inherent jurisdiction
    12        that -- I mean, McDonald's are claiming this is a once-off
    13        situation because of the length or the security part of
    14        this document they do not want us to see.  I think they
    15        should check if there are copies of the documents that are
    16        loose-leafed or that the section could be removed.  I do
    17        not really see what they are complaining about.  Are they
    18        complaining about the costs?  Are they complaining about
    19        the security section?  Or are they complaining about the
    20        large number of pages?
    21
    22        It seems to me they are throwing up a smoke screen to
    23        obstruct our right to discovery.  They have been ordered to
    24        disclose the document.  I think if they are going to bring
    25        in administrative tricks to try to make our job more
    26        difficult, then if they are allowed to do that and if that
    27        is accepted that is a legal right and the judge has no
    28        discretion, then time will have to be set aside from court
    29        time for us to do the increasing work.
    30
    31        I think this is an administrative trick by the Plaintiffs.
    32        It is a precursor of other administrative tricks which are
    33        likely to be brought in to make our lives more difficult,
    34        in fact, as difficult as possible as the case goes on.
    35
    36        I do not know what the powers of the courts are.  The court
    37        does have an inherent jurisdiction to make sure that the
    38        parties do not suffer in administrative terms.  I think
    39        that also discovery normally happens before trial and there
    40        is normally a great deal of time for things like
    41        inspection, if they are needed, for large documents before
    42        copies are provided.  We are in the middle of the trial
    43        and, therefore, the time is not available for those kinds
    44        of things.
    45
    46        If it is a book and there is some problem with us seeing
    47        the security section, I do not see any problem with them
    48        bringing it to court.  We can say:  "OK, we will have quick
    49        look; we will not look at the security section, we will
    50        look at the other sections and say:  'Yes, we would like 
    51        those sections' or 'No, we do not want those sections'."  I 
    52        do not really think it is a problem.  It would just take 10 
    53        minutes probably.
    54
    55   MR. RAMPTON:  Can I tell your Lordship what I believe -----
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Since this is maybe a squabble, but it has to
    58        be decided according to the law, I will hear if Ms. Steel
    59        wants to add anything and then I will hear you in reply.
    60

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