Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 37


     
     1        whether there is any objection on behalf of the Plaintiff
     2        and, if there is, I must make a decision on it.  I do not
     3        think it can be left in any state of doubt.
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:   We will do that.  I just want to raise, because we
     6        were talking about going on to Mr. Nicholson ---
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     9
    10   MRS. STEEL:  -- I did not get back from the funeral until very
    11        late last night.  I have not had time -----
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you are asking not to go on, I will ask
    14        Mr. ------
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   I would prefer not to.
    17
    18   MR. RAMPTON:  I am certainly not going to object to that, but it
    19        does raise a singular difficulty on which I would very much
    20        appreciate your Lordship's guidance.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  It is this:  Mr. Nicholson, if he is not here
    25        today, and even if he were, since he is not to be heard
    26        today, will not now come back into the witness box for
    27        probably something like three weeks.  I have some urgent
    28        matters in relation to the issue of publication which I --
    29        I say "I", I mean "we" -- and Mrs. Brinley-Codd have to
    30        discuss with him; the reason for that being not only that
    31        he is in charge of this litigation on behalf of the English
    32        company and has the conduct of it, but that he knows about
    33        the issue in a way which nobody else in the Company does.
    34        I cannot ask for the sorts of decisions and answers to my
    35        questions, which do not bear directly on Mr. Nicholson's
    36        evidence at all, but do concern the general topic of
    37        publication, there are certain things I cannot make any
    38        progress on unless I can talk to Mr. Nicholson about them.
    39        If I have to wait until his evidence is finished, then it
    40        will be too late.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:   I am not sure why, I mean, Mr. Rampton has not said
    45        why Mr. Nicholson cannot come some time next week.  As far
    46        as I am aware, he comes to court virtually every day.  We
    47        might be finished with Professor Naismith in one day, for
    48        example.  The other thing is if Mr. Rampton is making an
    49        application to be able to speak to his witnesses -- even if
    50        we started now, he certainly would not be finished this 
    51        afternoon --- 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  -- if Mr. Rampton is making an application to speak
    56        to his witnesses, we would want to know the specific topics
    57        which he wants to speak to him about before we would just
    58        agree to that.
    59
    60   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I am not asking for the defendants'

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