Day 190 - 23 Nov 95 - Page 03
1 Equally, with those parts of her evidence which are
2 hearsay, or I propose and submit are hearsay, they should
3 not be read now. If your Lordship should be against me in
4 any of those respects then, again, they can be read by way
5 of addition to the part that is legitimate. That is one
6 way of dealing with it. The other way is for your Lordship
7 to hear my objection now.
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Is there anything you want to say,
10 Mr. Morris, about the procedure we ought to adopt in
11 deciding what is admissible and what is not?
12
13 MR. MORRIS: I think it is a very late moment to bring it up by
14 Mr. Rampton. I have absolutely no idea what authorities or
15 whatever he is going to be putting forward. We have not
16 had any advice on it, so we could not possibly mount a
17 legal challenge to anything that he raises today, except to
18 say that it is our understanding that interviews,
19 statements, with anybody in a responsible position at
20 McDonald's -- perhaps it would be from Floor Manager, but
21 you have indicated Assistant Manager up -- any salaried
22 staff talking about things that they know about is
23 obviously evidence; and I think we should just --
24 obviously, we prefer that now that Ms. Lamb has come to
25 give evidence this morning, she should give it. But
26 Mr. Rampton -----
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think that is rather an
29 over-simplification. If what is said by someone, let me
30 just say, in a managerial position is clearly them speaking
31 on behalf of the Company, then it may well be that it is
32 admissible, but if it is just them relating some event
33 which has happened, then it appears to me that it is
34 hearsay just as much as if it was a crew member.
35
36 You see, if I can say how I understand it at the moment.
37 In so far as someone like Ms. Blackett speaks to Ms. Lamb
38 and might be thought to be speaking on behalf of the
39 Company, in a position which calls for her to speak to
40 people outside the Company on behalf of the Company, then
41 I see no problem; and there is no harm in me saying that my
42 initial reaction is that the whole interviews with
43 Ms. Blackett would be admissible, though I have not heard
44 any argument from Mr. Rampton in relation to that.
45
46 When you come to someone like Mark Ryan or Lynval, there
47 may be some things they say where they could be taken to be
48 speaking on behalf of the Company and other matters they
49 say which clearly do not fall into that category; they are
50 just speaking of what has happened to them, and they are
51 not speaking on behalf of the Company then. It would not
52 matter if it was Mr. Preston; if he just saying what has
53 happened, he is not speaking on behalf of the Company, even
54 though he is the Managing Director. On the other hand,
55 there may be here and there matters where it could be
56 thought they are speaking on behalf of the Company. What
57 I would have to do is form my own judgment as to which
58 category they fell into.
59
60 All this is without having heard any argument from
