Day 165 - 27 Sep 95 - Page 43
1 in-chief. Remember that you can ask me to read in the
2 statement of an employment witness the witness's
3 evidence-in-chief or part of it, if you wish, which may
4 save some time. We can talk about that when you get to the
5 witnesses, if you want.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Yes, there are still some outstanding witnesses to
8 be confirmed.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All I am trying to do is get a rough
11 estimate. So, looking well ahead, we might get on to
12 rain forest, if the employment witnesses went faster than
13 anticipated or, which may well happen, some of them really
14 have to be called at some stage in the future because they
15 cannot come during the employment periods, we may be
16 getting on to rain forest sometime in the week beginning
17 Monday 20th. That is before the date I have just given for
18 the end of the employment witnesses, but that allows for
19 the fact that you may say that a certain one or other of
20 your witnesses cannot come until some later time.
21
22 The question of having a break arises and how long it
23 should be. I do not think it is productive to discuss that
24 now because I do not know what windfalls of time you may
25 find along the way in any event during the employment part
26 of the case.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I say something, not to be
29 obstructive and not to argue with your Lordship, but if my
30 estimates of the Defendants' length in time in-chief of
31 many of their employment witnesses is correct, we are going
32 to have a very large number of short days during the
33 Defendants' employment evidence if it is scheduled to run
34 to the end of the week beginning 20th to 24th November.
35 I have just been looking, for example, at Mr. Duncan's
36 statement. Again, it seems to me that that
37 evidence-in-chief, once your Lordship has read the
38 statement, could only at the most in any sensible world
39 take half an hour and I see he is down for a day.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What occurs to me is if Mr. Morris can find
42 witnesses for the 18th and 19th October and two days during
43 the half term and then for the week following, sometime in
44 the week following, that is Monday 30th October onwards,
45 sometime during that week we will have a much better idea
46 of how the time estimates are working out.
47
48 MR. RAMPTON: I understand that, my Lord. Our problem is
49 nothing to do with wasted time in this instance, although
50 that is a constant thought for me and my clients in this
51 case because it is a fact of life in this particular case
52 that it has not gone at a quarter of the speed it ought to
53 have done, but there it is, I have to live with that. But
54 our concern is a specific one in relation to this, that my
55 three principal rain forest witnesses are all abroad.
56 There are two in Costa Rica and Mr. Ray Cesca who covers
57 more of the globe in an aeroplane in a year than even
58 Dr. Gomez Gonzales. He had booked out the week of November
59 6th. That has now gone. I must try to find a week before
60 Christmas, if possible, when he can be certain that he will
