Day 201 - 15 Dec 95 - Page 08
1 position, but I repeat what I said to your Lordship the
2 other day, at your Lordship's indication or suggestion: we
3 will make all proper discovery in relation to Colchester
4 and in relation, particularly, to the further witnesses
5 that we have been given leave to call in very good time
6 before they are called. If that should include such notes
7 as there may be, if any exist, then it will include them.
8 If it does not, that is because they cannot be found or
9 they never existed.
10
11 MR. MORRIS: I do not accept that one sheet of paper is a
12 leaving report when a Manager resigns.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have to give them a chance. If we come
15 back next term and the answer is that there are none there,
16 I will have to see what (if any) direction I should give,
17 and you can argue the matter out.
18
19 MS. STEEL: Can I just say that the Plaintiffs' Colchester
20 witnesses are listed to be first on when we get back. I do
21 not think that they should be able to call their witnesses
22 unless we have had these documents for sufficient time
23 (which is at least a couple of weeks) before their
24 witnesses give evidence, so that we are able to get
25 instructions from our witnesses.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I disagree with that totally, because I am
28 going to hear an awful lot of evidence, and, if a relevant
29 document comes out later, I can see whether it might affect
30 my mind one way or the other way, quite frankly.
31
32 MS. STEEL: We cannot seek comments from our witnesses before
33 they go into the witness box, so that we are able to
34 cross-examine their witnesses effectively, if we do not get
35 them in sufficient time.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If any documents do come to light, you can
38 address me at any time when they do come to light as to
39 what, if any, witnesses should be asked to come back to be
40 asked about them. But I am not going to stop or delay the
41 sequence of witnesses against the mere possibility that
42 further documentation may appear in the future.
43
44 MS. STEEL: I am not making a request for the witnesses to be
45 delayed. I am making a request for the Plaintiffs to be
46 ordered to provide the documents in good time, because this
47 statement was served in -----
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not know if they exist.
50
51 MS. STEEL: If they exist, they should be disclosed within
52 14 days -- because they have had plenty of time.
53 Mr. Coton's statement was served in October. Colchester
54 has been in the pleadings for two years. There is no
55 reason why they should take so long to make discovery. We
56 have been chastised when things have come up a bit slowly
57 on our side. As you know, we have a lot more problems on
58 our plate with organisation and administration than the
59 Plaintiffs have. I just feel that, to be fair, they should
60 be ordered to provide them by a given date, those documents
