Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 10
1 barristers, I would have thought, let alone two people
2 without experience and without the benefit of proper notes
3 throughout the case, although of course we had the
4 transcripts but it is impossible to read 20,000 pages of
5 transcripts even in six months, I would have thought.
6
7 We believe there is only one, despite McDonald's having
8 every possible conceivable advantage, and the additional
9 very strong, advantage of us having to go first with our
10 closing speeches. It would have been much easier -- I am
11 not criticising you for deciding we had to go first, it
12 apparently is normal practice -- but it would have been
13 much easier to listen to Mr. Rampton, hear the case against
14 us and respond knowing what he believes he has achieved and
15 what the issues are that are left. We would have had more
16 time and we would have had the benefit of that. No doubt
17 he has probably written his speech already, or most of it
18 but we have not got a copy and have no idea what he is
19 going to say.
20
21 But it is a complete nightmare and we are doing our best to
22 prepare as effectively as we can, but it will not be
23 comprehensive and we will have to prepare it in the
24 evenings for the next day. So we hope that you will bear
25 that in mind if we do not come over necessarily as well
26 prepared as the other side, no doubt, already are. The
27 only thing we believe that we have had that the plaintiffs
28 have not got, never have had, and it is the one fundamental
29 reason we have been able to fight this completely
30 impossible case, is that we believe we have truth on our
31 side. I know it sounds a bit sort of cliched, but that is
32 what we believe we have demonstrated.
33
34 I am going to come now to what might be called appendix 1.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: Could I just say just on that last point I was
39 making, about preparations for closing speeches, that we
40 did go to the Court of Appeal last week to try and set
41 aside the decision you made. I do not know if you have got
42 the judgment.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I have not. Because obviously I had an
45 interest, if only knowing whether today was to be postponed
46 or not, Mr. Glenn, my clerk, rang one of the Court of
47 Appeal associates on -- was it Thursday afternoon -- and
48 was told that your appeal has failed but I know nothing
49 more than that. I don't even know whether you were granted
50 leave or not.
51
52 MR. MORRIS: No, we did not get leave. What was basically
53 decided, and Mr. Rampton will surely contradict me, is that
54 your discretion in this matter was impossible to challenge
55 except in the most exceptional circumstances. But that
56 anyway your discretion continues and that we could appeal
57 to you for adjournments, or whatever, throughout the
58 speeches once we had started and that you still had that
59 discretion.
60
