Day 070 - 20 Dec 94 - Page 05

     
     1        which rings any bells with Mr. Cesca or anyone within his
     2        department then, plainly, he will have to go through it
     3        with a fine tooth comb, and if there is anything which
     4        strikes a chord in his mind, he will no doubt say what it
     5        is.  It is of course an entirely separate question whether
     6        those documents, if they ever did exist, and Dr. Gomez
     7        Gonzalez is talking of something different from what
     8        I think he is talking about, whether they do still exist.
     9        My Lord, I cannot answer that question at the moment.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What occurs to me, Mr. Morris -- which is not
    12        to just brush under the carpet any application or argument
    13        you may have to make about discovery in a field where
    14        Mr. Cesca may be able to help -- is what might be more
    15        productive is if one waits  -- and it will involve waiting
    16        until early next term, that is, after the vacation which is
    17        coming -- to see, firstly, whether there is any movement
    18        once Mr. Rampton has had a time to consider the transcript
    19        of Dr. Gomez Gonzalez' evidence so far, and Mr. Cesca has
    20        had an opportunity to consider that, and any efforts which
         are to be made are made to see if documents to which
    22        Dr. Gomez Gonzalez appeared to be referring in his evidence
    23        are, in fact, still in existence.
    24
    25   MR. RAMPTON:  Or if they are any different from the documents
    26        that we have already got.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  If they are any different from the
    29        documents which have so far been disclosed.  Do you see the
    30        possible advantage of that, rather than fighting the shadow
    31        that the Plaintiffs, rightly or wrongly, are saying, and
    32        Mr. Cesca has sworn, that documents in the categories you
    33        are interested in no longer exist, if they ever existed?
    34
    35   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not deterring you from making a specific
    38        point.  What I want you to do is think about that, because
    39        there seems to be some advantage in that.
    40
    MR. MORRIS:  It gives us time to consider the affidavit.  The
    42        only thing that worries me is that these kind of matters
    43        that linger on for a long time do put us under strain, not
    44        just in terms of work-load and seeking advice and things
    45        like that, but also in terms of remembering to bring things
    46        up and when to bring things up.  Obviously, this one has
    47        been going on since discovery started in February, whenever
    48        it was, 1993 -- last year.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am very well aware of that.  It would be 
    51        much more satisfactory if the matter could be dealt with 
    52        here and now.  What occurs to me is, if it were dealt with 
    53        here and now in accordance with what is the normal
    54        procedure, I would just say, "Well, at the moment I must
    55        accept what Mr. Cesca has sworn to in his affidavit in
    56        relation to discovery"-- do you see -- whereas if one
    57        waits, reluctant as one is just to put the matter over, the
    58        matter being any application you may have for specific
    59        discover in this field, you may get more information.
    60