Day 165 - 27 Sep 95 - Page 46
1 MR. RAMPTON: Mr. Bowland and Mr. Duncan come from Australia and
2 New Zealand respectively. Their statements are short and
3 relatively uncontroversial. They canvass a very small area
4 of ground. I doubt I shall cross-examine either of them
5 for more about five or 10 minutes, if at all. I cannot
6 conceive that evidence of either of them could not be
7 easily completed within half a day.
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is your time estimate for Mr. Cesca?
10 How long do you expect him to be in-chief, Mr. Rampton?
11
12 MR. RAMPTON: I should think about a day, my Lord, perhaps a
13 little more because he will have to look at some documents
14 from the distant past.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: I think to be realistic with Mr. Cesca, and we have
17 not considered yet about how long our cross-examination
18 will be, he is effectively the only witness on a whole
19 subject, although maybe someone from Costa Rica will talk
20 about some particular details about that. In reality he is
21 the Mr. Rain forest so far as the Plaintiffs are
22 concerned. I would not like to guarantee that he will be
23 completed in a week by Mr. Rampton. I do not believe that
24 he will be completed in one day by examination-in-chief.
25 I am sure he will go over a day.
26
27 So maybe the best way to deal with this if it for some
28 reason Mr. Cescar absolutely has to come before Christmas,
29 and there is no way rain forest is going to be completed by
30 Christmas because we have I do not know how many witnesses,
31 but we have a number of experts on the subject. Either
32 Mr. Cesca is scheduled for the first week after we resume
33 in January, which will be an absolute guarantee that we
34 will have preparation time over the Christmas period and
35 not have to abandon any court days for that purpose because
36 we would do that work over the Christmas period, but if he
37 absolutely had to come before Christmas I do not see
38 why ----
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I tell you the reason I think he should,
41 because I think it is in everyone's interest that we press
42 on with the case. I think it is important that he be fixed
43 for a date so that he knows when he is coming. If we do
44 not fix him until Christmas, with my experience of
45 litigation we will fall into the position of thinking that
46 is what we are aiming for when we really ought to be aiming
47 for something better.
48
49 MS. STEEL: We could fill in with all the packaging and Jarrett
50 and things like that in the meantime if we do run short.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: For the reasons I have given I would like him
53 to be fixed for a time before Christmas.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: Maybe the 11th is more realistic.
56
57 MR. RAMPTON: I am not having Mr. Morris running my schedules
58 for me. He seems to think the he runs the procedure in
59 this court. I find it offensive, annoying and
60 patronizing. I will fix Mr. Cesca for any of the three or
