Day 280 - 17 Jul 96 - Page 14

     
     1        relating to publication, their lawyers would have to do
     2        quite a lot of reading and if they decide they could not
     3        afford, or did not want, lawyers then they would have to do
     4        quite a lot themselves.  Would not there be significant
     5        time involved in investigation before they knew what their
     6        stand was to be?
     7
     8   MR. STARMER:   My Lord, yes.  Obviously, it is theoretically
     9        possible that they would want to look at the question of
    10        justification, but unrealistic in my submission.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  One would find it very difficult, as a member
    13        of the Bar, to advise on that without having got on top of
    14        it, would one not?
    15
    16   MR. STARMER:   I appreciate that, and if I was advising them I
    17        would want to look at all the issues, but realistically
    18        speaking they are unlikely to spend a great deal of time on
    19        any issue other than consent and degree of involvement.  In
    20        my submission, they would need to look at that to get
         advice but there is, I think, a two or three months gap
    22        coming up in which the third party proceedings could catch
    23        up to enable the third parties to make whatever submissions
    24        were appropriate, or the Court directed were appropriate.
    25        By October when the case resumes, and I hear my learned
    26        friend mumbling, I think the Court pleadings--
    27
    28   MR. ATKINSON:   I did not say pleadings.
    29
    30   MR. STARMER:   I am sorry.  I accept that it would be helpful if
    31        the Court directed that those proceedings were expedited,
    32        and I accept that theoretically there is a wide range of
    33        issues for them to advise on but, realistically speaking,
    34        it could be done, in my submission, and justice as between
    35        all the parties would be better served if it is done.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    38
    39   MR. STARMER:   Because the prospect, if it is not done at this
    40        stage, and dealt with in this trial, is that there will
         need to be further proceedings as between the Defendants
    42        and the third parties with potentially the same
    43        difficulties and delay that have arisen in this case,
    44        through no party's fault.  The fact that there is not any
    45        legal aid would mean that these Defendants would have to
    46        pursue their remedy again unassisted.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is a balancing act, is it not, because, if
    49        for instance, the Plaintiffs failed, or succeeded but got
    50        very limited damages, no doubt there would not be any, in
    51        the former case certainly there would not be any,
    52        contribution to the proceedings, and in the latter case
    53        there almost certainly could not be.  Obviously, no-one is
    54        going to sue for a share of a few pounds or a few tens of
    55        pounds or a few hundred pounds, but even if I did know what
    56        I was going to decide -- which I do not, obviously, various
    57        possibilities have come into my mind -- I hardly need say I
    58        have not decided.
    59
    60   MR. STARMER:   No.