Day 254 - 22 May 96 - Page 72
1 a few days ago, I am not surprised they did not respond,
2 but we are now getting -----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think part of the trouble is there are an
5 awful lot of documents and take a long time to -- it is not
6 just a question of looking at them; it is a question of
7 considering what the ramifications are.
8
9 MR. RAMPTON: I quite agree. I did explain that it is a
10 slightly laborious task which we found when we did it. But
11 it does need to be dealt with, I suppose, otherwise I do
12 not know where we find ourselves.
13
14 The next thing, my Lord, is if the Defendants are going to
15 serve supplementary statements on publication, whether from
16 themselves or from their witnesses -- we have got Mrs.
17 Tiller's statement -- but beyond her we have got nothing.
18 We really would like to have them at the beginning of the
19 week before we call our publication witnesses - that is to
20 say, Tuesday, 4th June. We start calling them on Monday,
21 10th; Monday, 3rd is not a court day. We really would like
22 to have them by 4th June, if we possibly can, because of
23 the reason that we are calling our own people very shortly
24 after that. I say "our own people". That is not quite
25 right because, of course, they are not McDonald's people
26 and, therefore, we shall need to-----
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are calling your witnesses.
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: They are our witnesses, that is right. The reason
31 I say that is that if we have got four or five days, there
32 is a reasonable chance of getting their comments on
33 whatever the Defendants and their witnesses say in support
34 of the amended defence, which at the moment we do not
35 know. I think those are all the things I need to mention
36 at the moment.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Can you help me with regard to those
39 two items now? Otherwise, I would like you to think about
40 it overnight and tell me in the morning before we go on
41 with Mr. Nicholson. It is the question of when we will be
42 able to have some useful discussion on various documents
43 like computer print-outs and surveys, which at the moment
44 there is no admissible primary evidence. You have got a
45 list of documents which Mrs. Brinley-Codd produced.
46 Obviously, Mr. Rampton is most concerned about those
47 because he needs to know which he has got to strictly prove
48 if he wants to rely on them. The other side of the coin is
49 that you have to think about which ones of yours, or which
50 ones you want to rely on, might fall into the same
51 category.
52
53 There was a report in The Times the other day which was in
54 relation to a criminal case where the Court of Appeal
55 stressed the importance of agreeing as much as possible by
56 way of admissions, especially if there was no real contest
57 about the material in question. That is obvious good sense
58 whichever way the admission is made.
59
60 MS. STEEL: The basic problem is that both of us are finding it
