Day 081 - 31 Jan 95 - Page 64


     
     1        you are able, if Ms. Steel or Mr. Morris request you to go
     2        into the witness box, I would personally be grateful
     3        because we just get on with that element of the evidence
     4        and then we carry on with the case.  Do you understand?
     5
     6   MR. CLARK:  Yes, my Lord.
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But I will not say more than that.  You take
     9        your own counsel and that of any other person whose
    10        judgment you respect.  Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris will come
    11        back at 10.30 in the morning.  They will say whether they
    12        want to call you.  If they say "no", either because they do
    13        not want your evidence or because they have decided to take
    14        a route via a Civil Evidence Act Notice, which is a way in
    15        which you can put witness statements in rather than calling
    16        the actual person into the witness box, then you can get
    17        the shuttle back. If they say they actually want to call
    18        you into the witness box, I will ask you whether you are
    19        prepared to go there and we will take it from there.
    20
    21   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, a couple of other things:  Mr. Morris
    22        mentioned some "other legal matters"; I have no idea what
    23        he means by that.  He should, please, or the pair of them
    24        should, please, produce a list of what they want dealt
    25        with.  It is not, I would suggest, a good idea to take, as
    26        it were, two days worth of legal argument.  If it can all
    27        be done on one day, including the BSE argument, so much the
    28        better.  That gives time for Mr. Morris to make a list of
    29        the topics that he wants your Lordship to consider as well
    30        as preparing for the argument, I hope on Friday.
    31
    32        My Lord, the other thing is we have now got, thanks to
    33        Mr. Atkinson, the Further and Better Particulars of Defence
    34        to counterclaim, pursuant to your Lordship's order.  I will
    35        hand up one, if I may.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  I may be remembering incorrectly but I believe
    38        there is a deadline for documents as well.  I cannot
    39        remember.  A deadline for, I might be wrong, but things
    40        like the Costa Rica documents there was a deadline set.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest is you check through on that.
    43        I know I picked 31st January as a date, I think, for more
    44        than one thing, but check that through and see whether you
    45        believe there to be anything outstanding by tomorrow
    46        morning.
    47
    48   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, there are no doubt some administrative
    49        matters which the Defendants have not attended to as well.
    50        I think it is much best if we all go away and write down on 
    51        pieces of paper what we think needs attending to rather 
    52        than trying to search our memories now, in my respectful 
    53        submission.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  If you can be ready do deal with BSE as
    56        soon as possible, I would be grateful.  In fact, I do not
    57        think the argument will be very long.  If need be, it could
    58        be we could deal with it, I would have hoped -- if we
    59        cannot deal with it this week, I really hope we could deal
    60        with it, perhaps, first thing on Monday morning in

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