Day 136 - 16 Jun 95 - Page 27
1 days than we might actually get through.
2
3 The other matter I wanted to mention is this: One thing we
4 must avoid, particularly when we come to your witnesses
5 (because I anticipate that you may not have as good a
6 contact with them as Mrs. Brinley-Codd may have with
7 McDonald's witnesses, purely and simply because a lot of
8 the Plaintiffs' witnesses are McDonald's employees and
9 Mrs. Brinley-Codd is used to -- she will excuse me saying
10 so, I am quite sure, tearing around and summoning people at
11 short notice because that is part of a solicitor's job,
12 whereas you are not), what we cannot have when we come to
13 your witnesses is significant gaps because some kind of
14 arrangement has fallen through, or it has turned out that
15 the witness you wanted to call next week cannot come
16 anyway.
17
18 The only reason I mention that is that you ought to be
19 finding out and knowing now when it is most convenient to
20 your witnesses to be called, so that if, for instance,
21 there is amongst your witnesses someone who would be
22 available in July, but is not going to be available in
23 October for some reason, you can say that and we can think
24 about interposing such a witness which it might be easy to
25 do without any loss to you and to the greater convenience
26 of the witness.
27
28 So what I am, in other words, telling you to do, do not
29 just assume: "Oh, we are not going to be calling any of our
30 witnesses until October" because that may do yourself and
31 them a disservice if you find out that October is not
32 convenient to them. I do not know. We may, subject to the
33 point Mr. Rampton has made about putting in witnesses whose
34 evidence is incomplete, have finished his employment
35 witnesses before the end of July anyway, I just do not know
36 ---
37
38 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, we would do, yes.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- were it not for the remnants of other
41 witnesses who might have to come back.
42
43 MR. RAMPTON: The sort of vague plan I had conceived was that
44 one would finish our employment witnesses, then so as to --
45 I do not know quite how to put it -- leave the Defendants'
46 employment witnesses as a block until October unless, as
47 your Lordship says, someone particularly wants to come in
48 July, then try to finish off as much of the outstanding
49 part finished witnesses and topics as we could at the end
50 of the month if there was any room left.
51
52 That is a possibility, but it is entirely a matter for your
53 Lordship. All I am really saying is that Mrs. Brinley-Codd
54 needs as much notice as she can get of what your Lordship's
55 intentions are so that she can start to arrange dates for
56 people. That is all it is.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest is bear in mind what I have
59 said about giving the best indication you can, say, on
60 Thursday afternoon of how Mr. Stein is going, and then we
