Day 087 - 10 Feb 95 - Page 31


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is not necessarily.  That is why I am
     3        asking about time, you see.  I would have been minded to
     4        abridge time, even having heard what Mr. Rampton had said,
     5        but for two points which make me wonder whether it helps
     6        one bit.  The first is that I think logically the first
     7        thing everyone has to know is what, if anything, you want
     8        to add to your pleading, working for the time being on the
     9        assumption that the admission at the moment blocks any
    10        further evidence about Preston.  I know I have not ruled
    11        upon that, but suppose that were to be the ruling I had
    12        made, what would you want to add so that it would either
    13        come in as an admitted fact, if McDonald's admitted it, or
    14        you would be entitled to call evidence?
    15
    16        The reason that ought to come first, for all I know, if you
    17        with the help of the PHLS report extract all the extra
    18        facts which you want, all or at least some of them may then
    19        be admitted by McDonald's.  Until we know what they are, we
    20        cannot know that.  Getting the report in is not an end in
    21        itself.  It can only be a means towards some other end
    22        which may, for all I know, be served by you being given
    23        leave, if that is what I do, to plead extra allegations of
    24        fact with regard to Preston and then some of them being
    25        admitted.
    26
    27        The second practical consideration is this:  If a counter
    28        notice is served, and if I abbreviated time to, say, 4 p.m.
    29        next Monday, the inevitable result of that would be that a
    30        counter notice would be served on you if only to preserve
    31        McDonald's position.  Then we are immediately on to the
    32        next stage which is waiting to see if you actually call the
    33        maker of the statement, so, as Mr. Rampton suggested, it
    34        goes into limbo anyway.  The document does not become an
    35        admissible document just because 20 days being up you are
    36        faced with a counter notice -- quite the reverse.
    37
    38   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I am going to do is I will leave it at
    41        21 days largely because of those practicalities.  If
    42        I thought abridging would actually help push the case on,
    43        I would have been inclined to abridge time.  As it happens,
    44        and I will say that it be deemed to run from 7th February,
    45        that means that time for the counter notice runs out either
    46        on the Monday when we come back after half-term leave or,
    47        it might be argued, actually the following day, but I hope
    48        it does not come down the wire in that way.  It will mean
    49        that we are back in court, and if there is any argument
    50        such as whether it should be extended further or whether 
    51        you have leave for your amendments, at least there is an 
    52        opportunity to raise those matters before time actually 
    53        runs out.
    54
    55        You do not have to tell me anything about the way you
    56        prepare your case, but it does actually help me sometimes
    57        to grapple with what problems you may be facing if
    58        I actually know.  To what extent can you actually get
    59        people to help you on the kind of point which is raised?
    60        One disadvantage I am at is I have extremely competent

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