Day 136 - 16 Jun 95 - Page 27


     
     1        days than we might actually get through.
     2
     3        The other matter I wanted to mention is this:  One thing we
     4        must avoid, particularly when we come to your witnesses
     5        (because I anticipate that you may not have as good a
     6        contact with them as Mrs. Brinley-Codd may have with
     7        McDonald's witnesses, purely and simply because a lot of
     8        the Plaintiffs' witnesses are McDonald's employees and
     9        Mrs. Brinley-Codd is used to -- she will excuse me saying
    10        so, I am quite sure, tearing around and summoning people at
    11        short notice because that is part of a solicitor's job,
    12        whereas you are not), what we cannot have when we come to
    13        your witnesses is significant gaps because some kind of
    14        arrangement has fallen through, or it has turned out that
    15        the witness you wanted to call next week cannot come
    16        anyway.
    17
    18        The only reason I mention that is that you ought to be
    19        finding out and knowing now when it is most convenient to
    20        your witnesses to be called, so that if, for instance,
    21        there is amongst your witnesses someone who would be
    22        available in July, but is not going to be available in
    23        October for some reason, you can say that and we can think
    24        about interposing such a witness which it might be easy to
    25        do without any loss to you and to the greater convenience
    26        of the witness.
    27
    28        So what I am, in other words, telling you to do, do not
    29        just assume: "Oh, we are not going to be calling any of our
    30        witnesses until October" because that may do yourself and
    31        them a disservice if you find out that October is not
    32        convenient to them.  I do not know.  We may, subject to the
    33        point Mr. Rampton has made about putting in witnesses whose
    34        evidence is incomplete, have finished his employment
    35        witnesses before the end of July anyway, I just do not know
    36         ---
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, we would do, yes.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  -- were it not for the remnants of other
    41        witnesses who might have to come back.
    42
    43   MR. RAMPTON:  The sort of vague plan I had conceived was that
    44        one would finish our employment witnesses, then so as to --
    45        I do not know quite how to put it -- leave the Defendants'
    46        employment witnesses as a block until October unless, as
    47        your Lordship says, someone particularly wants to come in
    48        July, then try to finish off as much of the outstanding
    49        part finished witnesses and topics as we could at the end
    50        of the month if there was any room left. 
    51 
    52        That is a possibility, but it is entirely a matter for your 
    53        Lordship.  All I am really saying is that Mrs. Brinley-Codd
    54        needs as much notice as she can get of what your Lordship's
    55        intentions are so that she can start to arrange dates for
    56        people.  That is all it is.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest is bear in mind what I have
    59        said about giving the best indication you can, say, on
    60        Thursday afternoon of how Mr. Stein is going, and then we

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