Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 39


     
     1
     2   MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord, I am sorry, this will not do.  That
     3        looks quite a substantial document.  I made a request when
     4        Mr. Mallinson was last here that we should be given a list,
     5        at the very least, of Mr. Hopkins' references so that we
     6        should be able to look at them in advance of
     7        Mr. Mallinson's recall.  We now find they are being dealt
     8        out of Mr. Morris' sack in the usual way.  It simply will
     9        not do.  It may be, like the last document, this is a
    10        document of no significance.  But Mr. Hopkins is supposed
    11        to be an expert.  Presumably, if he is an expert, he has
    12        learned references to which he will want to make reference
    13        when he gives evidence.
    14
    15        It is intolerable, in my submission, that halfway through
    16        the cross-examination of my expert these documents are now
    17        being pulled out of the sack.  I would require, if
    18        Mr. Mallinson is to be cross-examined about that document,
    19        that I should be given the chance to read it and that
    20        I should have, if I think it right with your Lordship's
    21        leave, the opportunity to talk to Mr. Mallinson about it.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:  Early on in this case we made the Plaintiffs aware
    24        of the fact that the references for Mr. Hopkins were
    25        sitting in court and could be borrowed by them at any time.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are supposed to serve them on the other
    28        side or, at least, show them a list of them.  Mr. Morris
    29        did that in the middle of this morning.  If they were in
    30        court, presumably, a list could have been made and served
    31        on the other side.
    32
    33        You see, I will tell you what my greatest concern is about
    34        when this happens.  Predictably, an objection is taken to
    35        it because Mr. Rampton has not seen the document in
    36        question.  Predictably, if you insist on saying:  "Well,
    37        I want to put it to the witness", we end up having a break
    38        while Mr. Rampton or Mr. Atkinson or Mrs. Brinley-Codd or
    39        Mr. Hill or anyone else on McDonald's side of the court has
    40        a look at it so they can be prepared.
    41
    42        That takes time, breaks into the witness's evidence and
    43        this kind of discussion breaks into the witness's evidence,
    44        and who is the person who pays at the end of the day?  It
    45        is not me, it may be as you keep saying a drop in the ocean
    46        so far as McDonald's are concerned, it is just another day
    47        in Mr. Rampton's professional life, it is a day out of your
    48        life, but the person who really suffers is the witness who
    49        really has nothing other than a general interest in the
    50        result of the case, but does not get his evidence finished 
    51        by 4.15 on the afternoon of Wednesday, 30th November, has 
    52        to come back on another day and has to find time out of 
    53        things I am sure he would much rather be doing.  That is
    54        what most concerns me.
    55
    56   MS. STEEL:   Exactly the same situation has arisen the other way
    57        round.  We keep getting told that there are documents in
    58        court that we can look at.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That does not help my anxiety about these

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