Day 149 - 06 Jul 95 - Page 34
1 far as they relate to pleaded occasions in their witness
2 statements.
3
4 Then, my Lord, I will mention, if I may, only in passing
5 (because I think it shrank in the end from being an
6 application), Mr. Morris was going on at some length about
7 putting Civil Evidence Act notices on quotes from the
8 Plaintiff's employees, and so on and so forth. I will not
9 add anything to what your Lordship said to Mr. Morris about
10 that yesterday. All I would add is this: from now on --
11 to use a modern expression, from here on in -- we shall
12 require formality from the Defendants in these matters;
13 that is to say, they will have to serve a notice; they will
14 have to identify who the person is that is giving the
15 evidence; and they will have to say what particular
16 statements they wish to rely on. Unless your Lordship
17 tells me otherwise -- of course, it is always within
18 your Lordship's power to do so -- I will not any longer
19 accept the statement in the course of
20 cross-examination: "Ooh, we would like to put a Civil
21 Evidence Act notice on that." The time has come when the
22 evidence must be put into some kind of order, because the
23 end of the evidence is now in sight.
24
25 My Lord, that brings me to the next on my list, which is
26 the Plaintiffs' application to recall Ms. Hovi for further
27 cross-examination, and beyond, and more important than
28 that, to call Mr. Bone in rebuttal.
29
30 My Lord, I can start on this. I will not finish it before
31 one o'clock. I am willing to start now or to start at five
32 to two, as your Lordship pleases.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think we will break off there, because you
35 made that application; the Defendants have responded, so
36 you just have to reply to that. There is no question of
37 Defendants replying to your reply, but what they may wish
38 to do is respond to what you have said on their
39 applications which are the question of served witness
40 statements which may not accord with those in the bundle,
41 any items in relation to discovery, the point you have just
42 made about Civil Evidence Act notice, anything in relation
43 to counterclaim proceedings and discovery.
44
45 MR. RAMPTON: Counterclaim proceedings, my Lord, was our
46 application, and I am going to say something -----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: And -- well, it comes under discovery -- what
49 I will call Mrs. Barnes' documents.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, that is right. My Lord, the only two
52 things I have left, both of which are Plaintiffs'
53 applications, are Hovi/Bone and a short word, in the
54 absence of Mr. Atkinson, about discovery in relation to the
55 counterclaim.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I cannot see that what you have to say or, in
58 the light of the form of your answers in relation to
59 discovery, what the Defendants have to say is going to take
60 very long. So we will resume at two o'clock rather than
