Day 153 - 12 Jul 95 - Page 52


     
     1        been accepted.  OK, Mr. Rampton wants to bring up the odd
     2        point that he feels should be put, although I do not see
     3        why our cross-examination should be guided by what
     4        Mr. Rampton suggests that we should put to the witness.  So
     5        if there is some, all right, extreme case of -- obviously,
     6        all our witnesses say that the management attitude was one
     7        of exploitation, and circumvention of rules or policy or
     8        whatever.  So it would certainly take a great deal longer
     9        if we had to put a great deal of specific points or even
    10        general points to every witness.
    11
    12        So I just wanted to say that Mr. Rampton can be reassured
    13        that we do not abandon any single point in any of our
    14        witness statements by not putting it specifically to any of
    15        the McDonald's witnesses.  If he has any doubt over that,
    16        he is welcome to raise it, so that we can clarify that we
    17        are not abandoning the point that he may be concerned
    18        about.  I wanted to make that clear, so that we know where
    19        we all stand.
    20
    21   MR. RAMPTON:  Can I say something?   Broadly speaking, I am in
    22        agreement with Mr. Morris.  I have taken the attitude --
    23        I would not take the same attitude if I were counsel on the
    24        other side, by any means -- by and large, I am in agreement
    25        with Mr. Morris.  It is a different question, really.  We
    26        have a gentleman in the witness box who was a manager at
    27        the time whose credibility may, your Lordship may think, be
    28        to some extent challenged by the Defendants and their
    29        witnesses.
    30
    31        I noticed from reading Mr. Stanton's transcripts that the
    32        allegation that he conspired with Mr. Davis to defraud the
    33        customers by watering down the ketchup, and so on and so
    34        forth, was not put to Mr. Stanton, which is why I insisted
    35        it should be put to Mr. Davis, because it is a matter
    36        directly affecting his integrity and his credibility.
    37
    38        The same goes for any other kind of allegation of that
    39        sort, such as the one which I have read to you a moment
    40        ago, which is an allegation that staff protested about the
    41        fact that the weather was cold and, when they did so, they
    42        were victimised by the management.
    43
    44        All matters of that kind should be put to the witness, if
    45        the witness's credibility on that matter is going be a
    46        matter which your Lordship is going to have to decide in
    47        due course.  It is not just to help your Lordship; it is to
    48        help the witness as well.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  It seems there are two aspects to it. 
    51        The first is whether, if you do not put something, it can 
    52        rightly be assumed that you are abandoning the point.  I am 
    53        not going to draw that conclusion.
    54
    55        The second question is what should and should not be put,
    56        according to our rules of procedure, in cross-examination
    57        of a witness.
    58
    59        You are quite right that the case has been conducted so far
    60        on the basis that a point will not be taken against you

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