Day 255 - 23 May 96 - Page 41
1 remember just how much later, or what had passed in
2 between, it occurs to me that the subsequent meeting -- if
3 Mr. Nicholson's recollection is merely he went to one more
4 is correct -- may have been one on the 28th February 1994.
5
6 MR. MORRIS: Which begs the questions what the first one is?
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It has to be right at the beginning, if Mr.
9 Nicholson's recollection is accurate, because he said he
10 went to the first meeting.
11
12 MS. STEEL: We do not seem to have any notes of the meeting of
13 1st February.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, we do not. But it looks as if the first
16 meeting -- at the moment we are looking back over two years
17 now and we have got some documentation.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: The key meeting, the minutes are missing basically.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. It looks as if the first meeting to do
22 with this may have been on 1st February, and that a
23 subsequent meeting to which Mr. Nicholson went may well
24 have been on 28th February 1994.
25
26 MR. MORRIS: So 1st February, which would be the key meeting as
27 regards the setting out of the introductory speech by Mr.
28 Nicholson setting out the position of the company, and all
29 that kind of stuff, just happens to the ones that the
30 minutes are missing on.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There you are. Whether that is sinister or
33 innocent, the fact is it is not there. The Plaintiffs say
34 they have not got one by inference, at least, from the fact
35 that they say they have disclosed all that is relevant.
36
37 MR. RAMPTON: It does not exist. I mean, having regard to the
38 terminology of the rest of the material, I just wish it did
39 exist but it is not there. That is too bad.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have already questioned the President and
42 Chief Executive, who accepted a responsibility in this
43 area. You have now got someone who does not have a
44 responsibility in this public relations area at all, who
45 does not have a formal responsibility, certainly in this
46 area at all, who says he was called in to give some
47 information to start with and to check a draft later.
48
49 What you really have to ask yourself is: Since you never
50 need more than one person, although you may find it, you
51 never need more than one person to be the nerve centre of a
52 Corporation, and since you have at least been able to
53 question the one who I would have thought is the very
54 nearest to the nerve centre, namely the President and Chief
55 Executive, how much you are going to gain from questioning
56 Mr. Nicholson who says what actually went out was not
57 within his area of responsibility?
58
59 You may have some point -- I do not want to stop you
60 outright because you may have some point concerning Mr.
