Day 270 - 28 Jun 96 - Page 38


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  All you need say then is that you are asking
     2        for a contribution towards any damages which were awarded.
     3        And Mr. Rampton may argue I could only order you to may pay
     4        damages in whatever sum I thought was appropriate, and if
     5        he was making a claim against the inquiry agents as well,
     6        which he is not, I could only award such damages as I
     7        thought were right against them, if I found that they had
     8        published defamatory statements which were defamatory and
     9        which they could not justify, you might say no, that is not
    10        right, there would be an overall award of damages for the
    11        publication of the leaflet to which you would each
    12        contribute.  I am not going to offer an opinion on that.  I
    13        would hear argument on it.
    14
    15        The second matter, when you come to the argument, which I
    16        think it must be obvious to you anyway, is that even if I
    17        thought that you did have a good claim for contribution or
    18        indemnity, I have a discretion as to whether you should
    19        make it by third party proceedings in this action, which,
    20        as we all know, has been going on for some considerable
    21        time now.  So that is the other matter.
    22
    23        The two things you would have to address me on is that you
    24        really do have a claim which is realistically arguable
    25        against the three inquiry agents, and secondly, that if you
    26        were to satisfy me of that, that I should exercise my
    27        discretion so as to bring them into the action now.
    28
    29        But I do not want to say any more.  I have only read it
    30        through, looked at order 16 rules 1 and 2 again.  I have
    31        not given any particular thought to it.  That is the first
    32        thing.  And the second thing is you say you are going to
    33        try and get some legal advice on it.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:  Yes.
    36
    37   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, Mrs Brinley-Codd managed to get a copy of
    38        the statement for me by copying your Lordship's copy.  I
    39        hope your Lordship's is back in its proper place.
    40        Unfortunately I do not know what that is.  It is a
    41        statement made by Leanne Claufine-Caston.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    44
    45   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, can I ask your Lordship, first of all --
    46        in fact, I do not need any authority for this submission
    47        that I am going to make, because the statements, and they
    48        are plural, upon which, if they are to have any relevance,
    49        are relied on via Ms. Leanne Claufine-Caston - I assume she
    50        is a woman - are the statements of the federal inspectors 
    51        inter alios which were made to her.  That being so, they 
    52        are not made in a document, they were made orally.  That 
    53        being so, I do not need to refer your Lordship to Ventouris
    54        v. Mountain or to the Brinks case, since they were
    55        concerned with what the position was.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You need not refer me to what?
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON:  Sorry, the two authorities which I referred your
    60        Lordship to before, which are called -- but I am not going

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