Day 302 - 18 Nov 96 - Page 06
1 the rest for references, which I will be able to hand,
2 I suppose, nearly three-quarters of to your Lordship we
3 hope by the end of next week. That will -- sorry, do I
4 mean this week? I mean this week, not next week.
5
6 Your Lordship will certainly get the first six factual
7 topics, which are nutrition, food poisoning, advertising,
8 recycling of waste, rainforests - is that six or five?
9 Anyway, the only one which might tail a little bit after is
10 employment, partly because it is a big subject and partly
11 because of the actual practical business involved of
12 typing.
13
14 I have not yet made a decision whether I am going to, with
15 your Lordship's leave, actually do the remaining four
16 topics which are, malice, publication, counterclaim and
17 damages in writing at all. Partly because of pressure of
18 time, but partly also for what I might call diplomatic
19 reasons. But I hope, if I decide not to do those in
20 writing, your Lordship will forgive me. They are never
21 going to be very long topics, anyway, any of them.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is entirely up to you. As I have said, I
24 did not feel it right to direct the Defendants to present
25 their submissions in writing, and therefore I do not think
26 it right to make directions in your case.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: Well, whether it is a promise or a threat, I know
29 not, your Lordship will get, I am afraid, rather a lot of
30 typescript at the end of this week. And the Defendants
31 will get it -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The end of this week?
34
35 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I am working to a deadline. It is not a
36 fixed deadline, but the date I am working to is Friday,
37 22nd. Or when the defendants have finished. Obviously, I
38 am not going to hand it in before they have finished.
39
40 That is the other thing I said to Mr. Glenn, I am sorry, I
41 had forgotten. In the light of what we have been able to
42 achieve and I say 'we', because it has been a joint effort
43 to a large extent. It does mean that, subject to anything
44 your Lordship wants to raise, I will not need very much
45 time on my feet myself, on my own initiative. And that
46 does mean -----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, we will wait and see. I do not know
49 how much I will need to explore with you myself.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: But it may mean your Lordship will make a
52 decision about it, and I do not believe I have a
53 contribution really to make. It may mean that it may not
54 matter terribly much if the Defendants over-run their
55 closing speeches by a couple of days.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will see how we go. I wish to stick to
58 the timetable I laid down, subject to a situation such as
59 happened last week when we had a day out of court, and see
60 how we go. The Defendants have done very well so far in
