Day 078 - 26 Jan 95 - Page 03

     
     1   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I should add in aid of that that it looks
     2        to me at the moment as though, assuming Mr. Walker finishes
     3        today or tomorrow, which he certainly ought to, I think, it
     4        looks very much to me at the moment as though next week is
     5        going to be quite a short week.  If one compares what
     6        Professor Jackson and Mr. Clark have said with what is said
     7        by the Defendants' expert, Mr. North, one can see that
     8        there is practically no water between them at all.  It is
     9        very likely we will get three days off at the end of next
    10        week, I would guess.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us hope that we do get some time.
    13
    14   MR. MORRIS:  I am sorry for being late.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Try to avoid slips; I know they happen
    17        from time to time.  You have done jolly well, if I may say
    18        so, so far in being here on time.  We decided at about ten
    19        two to go ahead anyway with some preliminary matters and,
    20        rather than go through them again now, I will leave
         Ms. Steel to tell you about them when we have a break.
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  I left my notes at home.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Was there something you wanted to raise
    26        about the timetable?
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:   Not about the timetable.  There was actually
    29        something we wanted to raise about on the back of the
    30        invoices there were some other bits of paper which were
    31        taken off yesterday and we asked if we could see them.
    32        Mrs. Brinley-Codd said they were shipping documents and
    33        that she did not want to hand them to us.  We wanted to
    34        apply to be able to see them.  I think you said that they
    35        should give shipping documents, in fact, on a previous
    36        occasion.
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord.  They are not shipment documents,
    39        they are not shipping documents in the sense -- they are
    40        not Brazilian documents or anything like that; what they
         are are documents, delivery notes by lorry drivers, and
    42        matters of that kind.  The reason, there is nothing
    43        sensitive or confidential about them, that one does not
    44        disclose documents which are irrelevant, the first is that
    45        it infringes the principle and the Defendants will get into
    46        a habit of mind of expecting us to disclose irrelevant
    47        documents.  The second reason is that one knows very well
    48        what happens; one then spends a lot of time in court going
    49        through material which is nothing to do with the question
    50        which matters, where in Brazil did this meat come from? 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I see, without asking for any comment from 
    53        either of the Defendants, the good sense in a case where
    54        there may be far too many documents anyway in not having
    55        even one extra unnecessary one.  Since they are actually
    56        here in court, is there any reason why the Defendants
    57        should not see them without prejudice to the point you have
    58        made and which you may well take in the future?
    59
    60   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, we have always been conscious in this