Day 148 - 05 Jul 95 - Page 39

     
     1        to do with the evidence in the main action and organising
     2        witnesses, our employment witnesses, and all the matters
     3        surrounding that.  I would say not before October really.
     4
     5   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, we said yesterday -- although I do not
     6        think Ms. Steel has dealt with it yet, I cannot remember,
     7        quite honestly -- that we would agree with your Lordship
     8        that a proper time for dealing with the discovery on the
     9        counterclaim would be the middle of September; that is to
    10        say, roughly a week before we reconvene.  We believe it
    11        would be convenient if the further and better particulars
    12        and reply to Defence to counterclaim were served at the
    13        same time.  So everybody has a little bit of time to have a
    14        look at what has been done before we start again, when
    15        everybody will be busy once again.
    16
    17   MS. STEEL:  I seem to recollect saying that about the affidavits
    18        that Mr. Stein and Mr. Cesca were supposed to do last year,
    19        but Mr. Rampton still asked for more time.
    20
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will fix a time which I think is
    22        reasonable.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   The basic position is, it is not that we are
    25        unwilling to do this; it is just that, realistically, we
    26        have a lot on our plate as it is.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I understand that.  It is no doubt a
    29        demanding case, but we have started it; we have had a lot
    30        of breaks along the way.  I think until the beginning of
    31        this year we were actually spending two out of every three
    32        available court days actually in court; in other words, one
    33        in three were preparation days.  That is quite apart from
    34        working at the weekends and any vacations.
    35
    36        Since the beginning of the year, happily, it is nearer four
    37        in five, particularly since Easter.  But it means in
    38        addition to any time used at weekends or in the court
    39        vacations (which some members of the public think are quite
    40        long enough anyway) we have had the equivalent of one
         working day a week for preparation, which is the
    42        equivalent, for instance, of what they have in the Official
    43        Referees' Corridor or in the Commercial Division where they
    44        are dealing with very complicated cases all the time.
    45
    46        While you are on the counterclaim pleadings, do you want to
    47        deal with item 3 on the Plaintiffs' list which was the
    48        first of Mr. Atkinson's application which was for discovery
    49        as set out in the March (sic) letter, if I can help get you
    50        going on that? 
    51 
    52   MR. ATKINSON:   It is 3rd February. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Sorry, 3rd February letter.  If I understood
    55        Mr. Atkinson correctly -- maybe I have this wrong -- there
    56        have been no outright discovery by lists in relation to the
    57        counterclaim.  We have had some discovery because, in
    58        effect, there are various appendices which include
    59        documents which would have been listed as part of the
    60        discovery.  So we start from this, that obviously, having