Day 164 - 26 Sep 95 - Page 11
1 authorities to back those up. We will do.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: This is why I asked you, you see, if you have
4 some reasonable prospect of doing it. Here we are 10
5 months after starting the trial -- that is optimistic -- 15
6 months after starting the trial. The reality is you have
7 suddenly got hold of this printout, fair enough, but you do
8 not have any more than I do whether you are actually going
9 to get anything from the authorities concerned.
10
11 MR. MORRIS: I could give my personal guarantee that it is a
12 realistic prospect I will get evidence to back up points
13 (3) and (4) -----
14
15 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I am frankly not content with that at
16 this stage in the case. Your Lordship will remember in
17 Associated Leisure, which is before ever the trial had
18 begun, Lord Denning said that any litigant who seeks to
19 make a late amendment will have his conduct closely
20 enquired into. The practice is to swear an affidavit
21 explaining in detail why it is that the application has not
22 been made sooner and what are the grounds of belief that it
23 can be sustained. I am not willing to accept Mr. Morris'
24 personal guarantee; bitter experience tells me that
25 I should not do so.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: I think the bitter experience is that anything that
28 we plead we have almost without exception -----
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not for a moment challenging your good
31 faith. I am not for a moment seeking to say to you that
32 you do not believe that there is a good chance of getting
33 it, but what basis have I actually got for thinking that
34 you can?
35
36 MR. MORRIS: These have only recently in terms of even the trial
37 come into our hands. Secondly, they are being pleaded now
38 and, therefore, I have focused my mind on it. I have a
39 thousand things to do with this case to focus my mind on.
40 This is now risen up to the top 10 priority. I have been
41 making enquiries last night regarding certain matters.
42 I believe those to be true, (3) and (4), and I think there
43 is a realistic prospect that we will get evidence to show
44 they are true to provide the context in which the other
45 particulars can be considered.
46
47 I am quite happy to contact the General Accounting Office
48 of the US government regarding how many inspectors they
49 have and what percentage of their time are spent on child
50 labour law enforcements and things like that.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. At the moment I am against you on
53 that. I will think about it, but what I will put my mind
54 to is whether it is a question of shutting you out
55 completely or saying I would be prepared to reconsider the
56 matter if within a reasonable period of time you did find
57 something. But wait; you will get my ruling within a few
58 days and wait and see what I say about it.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: So I do not need to go through the specific ones?
