Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 20

     
     1   Q.   Usually, how many different types of pesticide or
     2        fertilizer residues are on the lettuce?
     3        A.  Sorry, I do not know the answer to that question.
     4
     5   Q.   You do not know.  It would be more than one, though, more
     6        than one different chemical?
     7        A.  I do not know the answer to that question either.
     8        It depends what they test for, whether it is a specific
     9        test, you know.  I am sorry, I cannot answer it.
    10
    11   MR. RAMPTON:  I am just observing that the only reference to
    12        lettuce I can find in the whole of the Defendants' pleading
    13        is in the section on nutrition, which is tab 3, in relation
    14        to an allegation about Australia in 1979.  I cannot find
    15        anything at all in the food poisoning section or in the
    16        nutrition section which would support this line of
    17        cross-examination.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The view I have taken so far is, it may very
    20        well not be pleaded, it may not be in a particular
         statement.  It is not what I read into the leaflet at the
    22        moment because that relates to residues in meat.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But, having said all that, provided the
    27        matter can be raised and dealt with quickly and promptly,
    28        since it is pesticide residue, I have not seen fit to stop
    29        it.
    30
    31   MR. RAMPTON:  No, I understand that you have not, but I raise
    32        the objection, because what the Court of Appeal did not
    33        allow is that an unpleaded case, a case which appears
    34        nowhere in any witness statement, should be sought to be
    35        elicited by way of cross-examination.  That has always been
    36        inadmissible and it should not be permitted now, in my
    37        respectful submission.  It is not fair on the witness
    38        because he is not prepared to deal with it and it is not
    39        fair on us, and it is a waste of the court's time.
    40
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What do you say about that?
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:  I do not know that I have any more to ask anyway
    44        actually on this.  I was just going to speak to Dave about
    45        it.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I just give you a little tip?  I would
    48        urge you not to raise matters which are neither pleaded nor
    49        apparent from the statements of your witnesses.  If on
    50        occasion you find yourself unable to do so, for heaven's 
    51        sake do it quickly or you will give Mr. Rampton the 
    52        opportunity to make a perfectly valid objection which he 
    53        has just made.
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  As Mr. Rampton has pleaded that the entire fact
    56        sheet as it stands is -----
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, I do not accept that.  I have ruled on it
    59        several times and that is it.
    60