Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 05
1 reaction and view if any of our witnesses are contacted by
2 the Plaintiffs, our employment witnesses, because they do
3 feel insecure. People that have worked for McDonald's may
4 still have friends at McDonald's -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not going to decide this now. All
7 I wanted to know for myself (and so that you could hear) is
8 what the arena might be when it came up.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: Can we ask the court to say that, in the meantime
11 before this issue is discussed and resolved, the Plaintiffs
12 should make absolutely no contact with our employment
13 witnesses?
14
15 MR JUSTICE: No, I do not think I have any power at all to make
16 such an order,
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: No, your Lordship has no power. Your
19 Lordship would have power to punish the Plaintiffs for
20 contempt if they sought to intimidate the witness and that
21 is the end of it. We shall do everything we can to find
22 out just for the convenience of our own witnesses.
23
24 MS. STEEL: Can we have the name of the person who is being
25 contacted by the Plaintiffs?
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: No, at the moment I decline to give that name
28 unless I am ordered to do so in fairness to the person
29 concerned.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It seems to me we have obviously got to come
32 back to this topic. At the moment it is expected, is it,
33 that we will start employment after the Easter vacation?
34
35 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, my Lord, it is. That is why I mentioned it
36 now in the light of witnesses as soon as possible, because
37 obviously if we have to make our enquiries in order to
38 organise our own witnesses, then it is going to take a long
39 time tracing all these people and finding out whether they
40 are freely willing to come to court to give evidence.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: I do not see why the Plaintiffs should be
43 contacting our witnesses to find out if they are freely
44 willing to give evidence.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The contact would only be by a solicitor of
47 the Supreme Court; it would not be by anyone employed by
48 McDonald's.
49
50 MS. STEEL: But the fact is that most average people would find
51 that intimidating. If McDonald's contacted them to say:
52 "Are you going to come to court?", it an quite easily
53 sound like -----
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not going to pre-empt my decision, if
56 I have to decide on that, by giving any indication now. We
57 will have a proper and full argument in due course.
58 I merely want to know what the area of dispute will be when
59 it is properly argued.
60
