Day 147 - 04 Jul 95 - Page 17

     
     1
     2        We are asking you to exercise your discretion, and, if the
     3        transcripts are stopped for us, we are asking you to
     4        exercise your discretion for payment to be made from
     5        Central Funds for copies of the transcripts.
     6
     7        By the end of the case we have to prepare closing speeches,
     8        and we want to be in an equal position when presenting
     9        closing arguments to you.  Provision of the transcripts
    10        will assist justice being done, as there will not be
    11        pointless arguments about what has been said in court.
    12
    13        There was agreement at the start of this case that if
    14        CaseView was going to be used in court it would be used by
    15        all; and, if that is not going to continue, then we will
    16        withdraw our agreement for the screens being used in court
    17        at all.  There was correspondence on this matter, and it
    18        was argued in the transcripts as well.
    19
    20        When Mr. Rampton actually brought this up in court, when he
         asked if you were aware of CaseView and what your view
    22        would be on using it in this case, you said: "Of course, we
    23        would provide the Defendants with computers so they had the
    24        facility as well."  That was the basis on which we agreed
    25        to this technology being used in the court; because,
    26        obviously, again, it is something that creates a
    27        disadvantage, if we have to make handwritten notes, we are
    28        not going to be keep up the pace of proceedings.
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would like you to address me on that, quite
    31        apart from the transcripts, because, for all I know, they
    32        may be in different categories.  What you are moving on to
    33        now, it seems to me, is a submission that if you do not
    34        have CaseView, no one else should be entitled to use it in
    35        the trial.  Is that what you are saying?
    36
    37   MS. STEEL:  Yes, because of the unfair advantage it will give,
    38        the additional unfair advantage it will give to the other
    39        side.
    40
         If I could also mention, in terms of the transcripts, that
    42        on 27th June the Plaintiffs wrote to us -- this was last
    43        year -- stating:
    44
    45        "Further to the hearing before Mr. Justice Bell this
    46        morning, we wish to inform you that we propose making two
    47        copies of the daily transcripts of the proceedings from
    48        28th June 1994 until the end of the trial available to you
    49        in our main reception on the ground floor each evening."
    50 
    51        We feel that that was a promise which they should adhere 
    52        to. 
    53
    54        There is a further matter which I wanted to raise -- and
    55        Mr. Morris has various things to say on all the things that
    56        I have said so far -- which was that we had no notice of
    57        what the Plaintiffs were applying for or going to say
    58        concerning this when they brought it up yesterday.
    59
    60        We did ask on Friday what it was that the Plaintiffs said