Day 169 - 04 Oct 95 - Page 36
1 give it to me very quickly and I may well agree with you.
2
3 MS. STEEL: Last night we were given one copy between us to
4 check. Obviously, there are two of us and we live in
5 different places, so that meant that only one of us could
6 check the documents.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I am sorry, I must interrupt. I was here
9 at the time. They were given a copy at lunch time and they
10 were told that they could use our copier freer of charge if
11 they wanted to make a second copy. If they declined to do
12 so, that is their own funeral.
13
14 MS. STEEL: I would make the point that it is the Plaintiffs'
15 obligation to serve the statements which they are actually
16 using in court. It is them who has consistently managed to
17 make a mistake and serve the wrong statements. There is no
18 reason why in addition to the time that I had to spend last
19 night comparing the two statements I should have to spend
20 time photocopying them as well.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Has someone read the new statement?
23
24 MS. STEEL: I compared my version but, if you remember, the
25 other day Mr. Morris and I both had different statements.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have you found any difference between the
28 version which was served on you and the one you were given
29 yesterday?
30
31 MS. STEEL: Not on the one that I have, but if that had
32 happened the other day, with one of us just checking, then
33 it might have been that nothing was discovered then either.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I see no point in reading the statement,
36 quite frankly. If you want to bring out any part of it in
37 cross-examination, do so.
38
39 MS. STEEL: I really do not think it is fair that consistently
40 we are having to do all the work that results from the
41 Plaintiffs refusal to make discovery, refusal to provide
42 the right copies of statements or, you know, just general
43 -- they have got a whole legal team at their disposal.
44 Why should it always be up to us? We have got enough on
45 our plate as it is.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not always up to you at all, but that
48 is my ruling. From now on it is completely at the option
49 of the person calling the witness whether they merely ask
50 the witness to aver their statement if it is accurate or
51 read it out loud. You will have exactly the same choice
52 and what McDonald's have to say about it will be neither
53 here nor there either. Sit down, please, Mr. Morris.
54 Carry on, please.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: I have not made any comment about why I would like
57 the statement to be read out. I would like to make a
58 comment on that.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, do.
