Day 313 - 13 Dec 96 - Page 08

     
     1        11th March 1993.  If they were disclosed on that list then
     2        I think it is almost certain that McDonald's claimed
     3        privilege for them, and refused to disclose copies,
     4        since-----
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It cannot possibly.
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:   Can I finish what I am saying anyway?
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL: They are not only in McDonald's possession,
    11        they are in your possession, because they were either
    12        written by the solicitor who was then acting for you, who
    13        presumably kept copies, or received by the solicitor who
    14        was then acting for you.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   Well, firstly, we did not actually get all the
    17        correspondence.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  So they have been in your possession as long
    20        as they have been in McDonald's possession.
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:  We did not get all the correspondence from the
    23        solicitors when we took over fighting the case for
    24        ourselves.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is obvious I cannot look into whether your
    27        solicitor communicated satisfactorily or not.
    28
    29   MS. STEEL:  I am not asking you to, all I am saying is that
    30        Mr. Rampton was trying to assert we had seen them before,
    31        because they were disclosed on that date.  Now, definitely
    32        the Plaintiffs did not give us copies on that date.  They
    33        may have referred to them, and I believe that if they did
    34        then they claimed privilege for them and did not actually
    35        give copies.
    36
    37        Mr. Rampton may mutter but he was not involved in the case
    38        at the time so he is hardly likely to remember anyway.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL: Please leave that.  There cannot be, I am
         afraid, any sensible argument about that.  There is if they
    42        were written by you, if they are written by your solicitor,
    43        on the record.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:   I am bothered about the ones written by McDonald's
    46        but-----
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL: There we are.  Do not argue it.  Although you
    49        may not -- I do not know how willing you are to or not, but
    50        you must be prepared to trust me to give them only such
    51        weight as they merit in this case.  It is not a matter
    52        which really allows of any arguments, I am afraid.  So what
    53        I would welcome you doing, is using time productively to
    54        come on to the next matter which you want to, which is
    55        anything you want to say further in relation to the
    56        counterclaim.  (Handed).  Yes.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:   This was going through Mr. Rampton's argument about
    59        counterclaim.  Now, it might help if you have it open in
    60        front of you.