Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 44


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  We are just very concerned about what happened with
     2        this document and the amount of time and effort it took to
     3        get this document, and we did not want to see that repeated
     4        in the rest of the case.  It is clearly relevant -- and at
     5        the moment we are not being vindictive; Mr. Rampton has got
     6        his job to do -- we would submit that he should not have
     7        been able to do what he did with this document, bearing in
     8        mind its relevance, and it would be useful to have some
     9        kind of indication or guidance from the court in the light
    10        of this whole process.
    11
    12        I think it should be remembered that we have made about
    13        seven or eight formal applications for this document over
    14        the last year.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am going to ask you to stop there.  You can
    17        come back to that document and make any comment on it you
    18        wish, if a similar situation, namely, the disclosure of the
    19        document which is partly blanked out, arises.  Unless you
    20        have a specific application to make this afternoon in
    21        relation to it, that is what I see the context (if any) of
    22        the complaint you are making.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   I have something I wanted to say about the second
    25        document in the bundle, the new sheet that was supplied at
    26        the last minute, apparently, to explain what the
    27        underlining meant.
    28
    29        I would request that the Plaintiffs be required to provide
    30        a statement of some sort explaining how and when this
    31        document came to be created, and why it was that it was not
    32        disclosed until a long time after all the witnesses on this
    33        subject had left the witness box.  At the moment, this has
    34        just suddenly appeared from nowhere, and there is no
    35        explanation about it.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think I can make an order to that
    38        effect.  Where I think you can pray in aid any argument to
    39        that effect, which I would invite you to remember, is when
    40        you come to address me on the weight (if any) to be
    41        attached to that particular document and, particularly, the
    42        footnotes at the bottom explaining what the underlining is;
    43        we will come back to your argument then.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  I would specifically like the Plaintiffs to state
    46        clearly what they are saying this document represents and
    47        when it was created.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I cannot order the Plaintiffs to say that.
    50        You can wait and hear what is said about it in the future. 
    51        If it is said by Mr. Rampton in reply to you, because he 
    52        comes last, I will give you an opportunity to answer it, 
    53        and you can make any comment which you wish that I should
    54        attach little or no weight to the footnotes in the bottom
    55        left-hand corner, if there has not been a witness who can
    56        support them.
    57
    58   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I wonder if I might say something?  If
    59        the accusations which Mr. Morris has made -- no doubt, for
    60        the transcript -- had been levelled at my solicitors,

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