Day 241 - 26 Apr 96 - Page 16


     
     1        they are calling their witnesses and then only calling them
     2        after our witnesses have given their evidence.  I would
     3        have thought that cannot be right in the interests of
     4        justice and getting the case finished.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are you actually objecting to Mr. Wright?
     7        I must put it to you this way because you need to know you
     8        see, whether one party is objecting, is opposing an
     9        application made by another.
    10
    11   MS. STEEL:   I am extremely unhappy.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Whether it is a contested application or not
    14        in other words.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:  I am aware the plaintiffs are trying to blackmail us
    17        into not opposing their witnesses because they then start
    18        playing, what they normally criticise us for doing, just
    19        saying they should not -- well tit for tat whatever, but
    20        I am extremely concerned about what has happened with the
    21        witness from Norway.
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  We do not know what the legal -- we are asking for
    24        guidance from the court on whether this is an appropriate
    25        course to take, what has happened here, where our witnesses
    26        have been called and they have served -----
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have said before that I do not think
    29        actually the order in which the witnesses give their
    30        evidence matters very much.  You from time to time set
    31        great stop by it, but it does not really matter to me.  If
    32        it is alleged that someone who has been called after
    33        another a witness on the other side has tailored his or her
    34        evidence falsely because of the witness given previously,
    35        then that is a comment to be made in due course which
    36        I will consider.
    37
    38        But in many cases now, provided there is some essential
    39        structure to the case in the sense of the order in which
    40        witnesses are called, time and time again what would be the
    41        routine would change very often, for instance for the
    42        convenience of the witness or for any reason.  It is more
    43        important that the judge has all the potential material
    44        evidence before him and that a particular order be
    45        followed.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:  But the problem is that Mr. Jenssen has been and
    48        gone and it is very late in the day and for us to try and
    49        contact him to comment on this statement at this stage of
    50        the case, when we have got all the other issues to deal 
    51        with, is going to be extremely difficult, nigh-on 
    52        impossible bearing if mind we have to contact all the 
    53        nutrition witnesses and the publication witnesses, and all
    54        the other matters that have to be dealt with, because
    55        basically we are in court most of the time.  When we are
    56        not we have got, you know, so much to chase up as it is, it
    57        is very difficult for us to take on additional matters and
    58        go back over very old ground.
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  I think what we are saying is that we do not know

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