Day 165 - 27 Sep 95 - Page 08
1 someone else about something other than McDonald's, when
2 I do not even know whether you accept or dispute what might
3 well be argued to be far more germane matters or
4 allegations such as whether you took control of the
5 meeting, organised the agenda and took the minutes of the
6 meeting.
7
8 MS. STEEL: I can give my word here and now that there are
9 considerable parts of what these witnesses are saying that
10 will be disputed relating to McDonald's.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have to put them in a supplemental
13 statement sometime before these witnesses are called so we
14 know what the issues are, just as we have got with
15 Mr. Atkinson. I have been very sympathetic about you not
16 getting supplemental statements from other witnesses
17 because I appreciate there may be difficulties with
18 communications and there are an awful lot of them. So
19 I hope I have been sympathetic about you not obtaining
20 supplemental statements from them, but it ought not to be
21 terribly difficult to obtain a supplemental statement from
22 yourself.
23
24 MS. STEEL: I would argue that, in any event, if we do have to
25 give a supplemental statement then the notes ought to be
26 discovered before that so that will assist us in making a
27 supplemental statement.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will decide the question of discovery of
30 notes. I am going to stop now and let you get on with the
31 argument, but I hope at least this has given you some idea
32 of the way my mind might work when we come to the
33 reliability of these enquiry agents, that I might think it
34 is only common sense to be much more concerned in contests
35 on their evidence in so far as it relates to you and
36 Mr. Morris and McDonald's, rather than other people in
37 relation to non-McDonald's matters.
38
39 MS. STEEL: Other non-McDonald's matters and other people at the
40 meetings were what the group was about, and since the
41 Plaintiffs have stated that involvement in the group
42 thereby makes us responsible for the anti-McDonald's
43 campaign, anything discussed at the meetings and who was
44 present at the meetings is, therefore, relevant.
45
46 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I intervene at this stage?
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you should say anything more you want
49 to say about Thorpe, then I will hear Ms. Steel and
50 Mr. Morris' reply to this.
51
52 MR. RAMPTON: I do not need to say anything about Thorpe.
53 I believe that Thorpe speaks for itself. It appears to be
54 a clear rule. That really disposes of the application at
55 one fell swoop, in my submission,. Beyond that, however, I
56 do not want to be a more strict lawyer than I have to be.
57 I gratefully accept what your Lordship has just been saying
58 about the peripheral nature of the missing passages. There
59 is quite sufficient in the parts of the notes which the
60 Defendants have to enable them in consultation with other
