Day 274 - 04 Jul 96 - Page 09


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  After the end.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:  That there would be some period when the witnesses
     5        have finished where we are able to go back and concentrate
     6        on our papers and consider that matter that you have raised
     7        there.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have told you I am not making a ruling, but
    10        it is definitely a statement of intent, and, as you know,
    11        whether you accept it or not, I am anxious to help you on
    12        points which I think you may not have perceived, because
    13        you are representing yourselves, where I think there is
    14        some risk that you may be labouring under a
    15        misapprehension.  And that has happened in a number of
    16        contexts in this case.  By the same token, I have more than
    17        once said that I am very reluctant to give you advice in
    18        case it turns out to be misplaced and you are misled by
    19        it.
    20
    21        What I would suggest in this case is that you must do your
    22        very best by Monday morning to be able to stand up and say,
    23        with regard to as many documents as possible on the 18th
    24        March list, and especially the ones which go to the heart
    25        of things, like percentages of recycled paper, nutritional
    26        contents, printouts about labour figures or details of one
    27        kind or another, whether you admit them or not. When you
    28        are doing that, I would not be at all surprised if certain
    29        documents which you want to rely on do not come back to
    30        mind.  And, as they do, write them down.
    31
    32        The other thing is this; there has got to be some
    33        coordination between you and Ms. Steel.  It is technically
    34        possible that you could agree a document with Mrs.
    35        Brinley-Codd and that document would therefore be
    36        admissible in the case as between you and the first and
    37        second plaintiff, but if Ms. Steel had not agreed it, it
    38        has not been approved and it was not admissible in its own
    39        right, it was not admissible in the case between her and
    40        the first and second plaintiff.  But one has only got to
    41        state the theoretical possibility to realise what an absurd
    42        situation you would be in.
    43
    44        So what you have got to try and do is both of you be of the
    45        same frame of mind as to what is admitted and what is not.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:  I do not want to say anything really about that, but
    48        I just wanted to actually -- well, since it was mentioned
    49        this morning, I had an E-mail from Professor Crawford and
    50        he says that I was right, and that he says the peppers
    51        explain the difference between the McDonald's meal and the
    52        homemade.  The figure was correct.  The difference was beta
    53        carotene, because he was thinking of it in terms of
    54        retinol.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When we have a break, ask if that can be
    57        photocopied and I would like to see it.
    58
    59   MS. STEEL:  There are some other comments on it which are to do
    60        with closing speeches, and things like that.

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