Day 083 - 06 Feb 95 - Page 25
1 not necessary for the fair disposable of the case or the
2 saving of costs" which is an entirely separate question.
3 It saves both expense, trouble -----
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It appears to me, you see -- this is why
6 I really mentioned the question of power last week, having
7 thought about it -- that in the past there has been some
8 debate as to whether it is necessary to actually produce
9 for inspection a certain class of document, whether it is
10 necessary for the fair disposal of the case or the saving
11 of costs, when it occurred to me that some, anyway, of the
12 categories of documents were not actually in the
13 possession, control or power of your clients anyway. So,
14 whether or not I might appreciate seeing them and whether
15 or not they might help me to the truth in the action, as a
16 matter of law, you would not be obliged even to list them.
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: That is the point I am trying to make. I have
19 been a long time about it.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It may be I am just thinking aloud so not
22 only you can hear but Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris as well.
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: We are, as a party often is, in this difficulty --
25 I call it a difficulty, it is not really; it is a problem
26 we have to resolve -- we do not want your Lordship to
27 decide this case in anything but the most confident way in
28 the sense your Lordship should, we feel, be confident that
29 nothing has been hidden. What we have done is we have
30 tried to ignore the strict legal position and to try to
31 produce, so far as is reasonable, the documentary materials
32 and, indeed, the witnesses that may help your Lordship to
33 decide this case on a proper footing.
34
35 There is, however, a limit. We are grateful to your
36 Lordship for having made us, I think it would be fair to
37 say, look at what the strict legal position was, because
38 now, if we are right, we know what it is and, where
39 necessary, we will for the future draw a line.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would obviously like to see any document
42 which may be in existence which may help me to get to the
43 truth on a relevant issue, but I can only order that which
44 I have power to order.
45
46 MR. RAMPTON: May I take an example from recent history? When
47 Dr. Gomez Gonzales was in the witness box he mentioned a
48 map of Braslo. Braslo is not a McDonald's company. It is
49 a supplier. Your Lordship indicated I think at the time --
50 it may have been one of the Defendants -- that it would be
51 nice to see the map. We have now coloured copies in court
52 of what we think is the Braslo map.
53
54 There are two things to be said about that. As matters
55 presently stand, the map is irrelevant because it deals
56 with Braslo sources and not Vesty's sources. Secondly,
57 there was no obligation at all to produce it because it is
58 not a McDonald's document or one over which they have any
59 power. If we have been giving out the wrong signals to the
60 Defendants and they believe that they only have to pull the
