Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 43


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sorry, I am having difficulty
     2        understanding just what is at stake.  What is it that you
     3        suggest the Defendants were asking which they are not
     4        entitled to have because of legal professional privilege?
     5
     6   MR. RAMPTON:  There are two points in 3 my Lord, one is meetings
     7        attended -- dates I suppose is what it means -- which had
     8        nothing to do with the issues in this case, that is the
     9        objection.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will hear what Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris
    12        have to say about it.
    13
    14   MR. RAMPTON:  There is a further ground, which is this ----
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I was going to say, if it is every
    17        meeting or event which concerned McDonald's.
    18
    19   MR. RAMPTON:  That is different.  Then, my Lord ----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I know.  This is what I want to see, if the
    22        words were inserted.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  Then, my Lord, one moves on to a different
    25        territory, which is the territory of privilege.  So far as
    26        the witnesses we intend to call to deal with those relevant
    27        meetings, that privilege will be waived.  It has not yet,
    28        in fact, been waived but it will be waived as soon as they
    29        go into the witness box and give evidence about it.  In
    30        anticipation of the difficulties, the administrative or
    31        practical difficulties, to which such a course might give
    32        rise, though it is a course which on the authorities
    33        strictly we believe we are entitled to follow, we have
    34        decided to waive the privilege in associated or connected
    35        documents related to those occasions.
    36
    37        We have done that in two ways:  we have done it by
    38        disclosing, and we are in the process of disclosing further
    39        parts, those parts of the notes of the inquiry agents which
    40        are relevant to those occasions and to the issues in the
    41        action on those occasions.  We did not need to do that.  We
    42        could have waited until the witness got into the witness
    43        box and gave the evidence, but we did not do that.  We have
    44        done it also in relation to certain photographs taken by Mr
    45        Allan Clare, which are also privileged documents.  We have
    46        done that in advance of the witness getting into the
    47        witness box because we fully intend to call them, and
    48        because if we do it when the witness is in the witness box
    49        then it is obvious that there may have to be an
    50        adjournment, and so on and so forth.  We took the course 
    51        recommended by one of the text books, which is to make the 
    52        waiver in advance of the giving of the evidence. 
    53
    54        So far as the two inquiry agents are concerned, the third
    55        one is the anonymous one; he or she is anonymous to us and
    56        must remain so.  But so far as the two the Defendants know
    57        about were not anonymous, that is to say, Frances Tiller
    58        Davidson as she was, and the other lady whose name is
    59        Michelle Hooker, we do not intend to call them as
    60        witnesses.  All information relating to them, all the

Prev Next Index