Day 148 - 05 Jul 95 - Page 15
1 under and then in the sphere of food poisoning in terms
2 of -- I mean, some evidence has been given on this, but
3 there is no reason why the documents relevant to it should
4 not have been disclosed as well in terms of checks that are
5 made that relate to matters of food poisoning, procedures
6 that are carried out that either might prevent food
7 poisoning or might cause problems.
8
9 Basically, we believe that we are entitled to know the
10 whole procedure because it is an issue in two areas, in
11 both the personnel and in the food poisoning, and the
12 section that is there is only about grills. Again, it is
13 not about the procedure for deep fat fryers for the chicken
14 McNuggets which are in issue.
15
16 There should be all the matters such as calibration in that
17 section as well. I do not know whether I mentioned that
18 one. The next thing is the personnel section. There is
19 actually a considerable amount in there running from pages
20 474 to 541 which is bundle pages 80 to 147. I think,
21 though, it would be helpful if the Plaintiffs confirmed
22 whether or not that was the entire chapter on personnel.
23
24 That is a fairly simple matter for them to confirm, that
25 every single page of the personnel section is in there.
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I suggest that -- it is perhaps best
28 I wait until Ms. Steel finishes. So far as this is
29 concerned, this discovery was made, of course, on the basis
30 of the original pleadings. It has not been reviewed since
31 all the evidence has been given in court; it would,
32 I think, be sensible if, when Ms. Steel has given the list,
33 we go through the transcript, go back to the original and
34 redo the thing just in case there are things which have now
35 become relevant.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will tell you the way I am thinking at the
38 moment: The Plaintiffs have chosen to disclose, if we
39 assume -- it may not be a correct assumption -- that the
40 last page in the bundle, page 684 of the manual and page
41 172 of the bundle, if we assume that the manual is about
42 700 pages long, that is, 684 is the last page, the
43 Plaintiffs have chosen positively to disclose about one in
44 every four pages in the matter. For the moment, I cannot
45 see why the Defendants should not, between them, be given a
46 copy of the manual and decide what, if anything, they want
47 in the bundle as well.
48
49 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, the only reason not to do that, and,
50 I said, this discovery was made on the basis of the
51 original pleadings and it has not been reviewed since all
52 the evidence has been given, and there is no question that
53 the issue has been widened, as in almost every other topic
54 of the case, widened quite considerably since the pleadings
55 were drafted, not least by reference, perhaps, to what some
56 of the Plaintiffs' witnesses have said, whether in-chief or
57 in cross-examination.
58
59 My Lord, my only hesitation about handing over a whole
60 thing of this is that, even after all the evidence we have
