Day 206 - 22 Jan 96 - Page 62


     
     1        of the people you mentioned you wanted to call, if you
     2        could trace them.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:   This has only come into my possession literally on
     5        Friday, last Friday, so I have not been able to speak to
     6        him direct yet.  But he had passed it on to Mr. Logan.  All
     7        I am saying is, do I have to put all these matters to this
     8        witness, or, if I do not, does it mean that the Plaintiffs
     9        are going to get a right of rebuttal if we bring Mr. Olive
    10        to verify this?
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, they certainly get a right of rebuttal
    13        if you have not put to -- or, certainly, I can imagine they
    14        will apply, or might do, to call witnesses in rebuttal, if
    15        Mr. Rampton thinks that is the appropriate course to take,
    16        if, after a number of McDonald's witnesses from Bath are
    17        called, you produce a statement from another potential
    18        witness and say you want to call him, and the matters in
    19        the statement have not been put to the witnesses.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  I had indicated when I disclosed this on Saturday
    22        evening (my first opportunity) to the Plaintiffs, that we
    23        did intend that: "Mr. Olive is prepared to verify the
    24        letter handed to Mr. Logan and passed on to myself on
    25        19th January 1996".  So we have given them advance notice.
    26
    27   MR. RAMPTON:  Our copy of this letter was timed -- I got it this
    28        morning -- the fax time was one minute or two minutes past
    29        midnight on Saturday night.  What are we supposed to have
    30        done in the meantime?
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You had better put it to the witness.  If you
    33        are thinking of seeking to call Mr. Olive, you had better
    34        at least put what is in the letter.  If you obtain a
    35        statement from him in due course, serve it on Barlow Lyde &
    36        Gilbert and then call Mr. Olive.  At least, hopefully,
    37        these matters will have been put to one or more McDonald's
    38        witnesses.  If he then, in his statement and in his
    39        evidence, makes other allegations and Mr. Rampton applies
    40        to call someone to rebut them, I will deal with that
    41        application as it arises.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I just wanted to save time, really.  So I
    44        will put these two.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you had better put them; otherwise,
    47        the fact will be that they have not been put to any witness
    48        and there are going to be applications to recall, which I
    49        would like to avoid.
    50 
    51   MR. MORRIS:  Yes. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I just make the point now that now we are on
    54        Bath witnesses, if you are going to get a witness
    55        statement, the sooner the better.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  The trouble is having any direct contact with
    58        him -----
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I know.  I have said lots of times that

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