Day 083 - 06 Feb 95 - Page 42
1 within Brazil" which turns out not to have been true as a
2 policy. But the point I am saying is that we can show
3 evidence to that effect, that they have more than 50 stores
4 in Brazil that used Brazilian beef, which is similar to the
5 situation in Costa Rica in terms of the impact is still
6 relevant within the country as it is in terms of exports.
7
8 There are two distinct issues. There is the sources of the
9 beef in terms of whether it is ex-rainforest and, secondly,
10 if it is not ex-rainforest, whether it is having an impact
11 in that country of which exports are a very important
12 impact because of the volume related to the country.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I think you should do, if you want to
15 pursue the hare which I have started, I think you again,
16 because there is a purpose in pleading whenever we come
17 across an issue like this which is not just accepted to go
18 in, it is the same as the BSE, to get to grips with what
19 your actual allegation is, if you were allowed to make it
20 by way of pleading. See whether it is right that I should
21 give you leave to add that and then see what, if any,
22 discovery should be ordered in relation to any allegation
23 which is made. One has, obviously, a fair recall of a lot
24 of the evidence, but I certainly I do not have instant
25 recall of what every witness has said with regard to items
26 such as that.
27
28 This is going to come back to the boil, if I understand it
29 correctly, when Mr. Cesca gives evidence. How far ahead is
30 he, Mr. Rampton, just very roughly?
31
32 MR. RAMPTON: I would have to look at my chart briefly. I am
33 looking at what I call the interrorem chart. I say that
34 because it struck fair into my heart when I saw it.
35 Sometime in July, that is if the employment witnesses run
36 their length. I have quite a lot to say about that too,
37 I am afraid, in the light of some research that has been
38 done over the last few days.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am very conscious that one makes a rod for
41 one's own back and the parties' back if one keeps putting
42 things off and over. If Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris were
43 represented, I would just say: "Well, let me have your
44 amendment in the morning, draft amendment in the morning".
45
46 MR. MORRIS: We can do it within a few days.
47
48 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, this is not one I am going to -- I have
49 been, I hope, as untechnical as I have been able to be
50 throughout this case but this is not one that I am going
51 to let go.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I am not asking you to let go. I have
54 raised it and I am conscious that it has taken a fair bite
55 out of today as a result of raising it. Can it, without
56 prejudice, that is, without difficulty so far as witnesses
57 who are about to crop up, be left over for a while?
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, of course it can. All I would say is, what
60 I meant to say when I started out on that sentence, let
