Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 39

 
 

                                                                  DAY 233
 
 
 
 
 
     1        application to amend, he did not think that he would be
     2        able to resist the application.  So, I think that if you
     3        feel that it is not an issue as presently stands, then
     4        perhaps the best course is for us to draft an amendment and
     5        to plead that particular issue; and then we would be
     6        entitled from that to rely on any information which might
     7        be available in terms of either interrogatories or
     8        discovery relating to that, because they are the methods by
     9        which -- well, they are included in the methods by which
    10        you can prove your case.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If I grant the discovery.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   Yes, obviously.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:   OK.  I was interrupting Mr. Morris at that point,
    19        but I will carry on with the points that I wanted to make.
    20
    21        Can I just say, in respect of power, if by chance you felt
    22        that the documents were not in their power because they
    23        were in the possession of the suppliers, as a particular
    24        example, I do remember Mr. Cesca saying, or it being in a
    25        letter, that when they wanted to check out the location of
    26        ranches, they would be given copies of the list so that
    27        they could go and visit them.
    28
    29        Now, presumably, as soon as they get a copy of the list --
    30        and, according to their evidence, they verify the location
    31        on a frequent basis -- as soon as they get a copy of the
    32        list, it is then in their possession and they have a duty
    33        to disclose it.
    34
    35        Dave also reminds me that in Morganti's last statement, he
    36        actually says he gave a list to Ray Cesca of all the
    37        ranches, anyway.  I do not know if you remember that.
    38        I have not got the statement with me.
    39
    40        I mean, the point about the next time they are visiting
    41        ranches, I dare say they can try and get round that by then
    42        saying they are not going to visit ranches any more.  But,
    43        I do not know.  I mean, it just strikes me that they do
    44        regularly come into their possession and, therefore, they
    45        should have actually been disclosed by now, because they
    46        must have been in their possession within the last five
    47        years, since the writs were first served on us, or at least
    48        since the rainforest pleadings came into being, which was
    49        several years ago.
    50 
    51        I have a note on number 1:  the lists of ranches or maps 
    52        charting the position of ranches supplying McDonald's 
    53        cattle in Costa Rica.  I do not know whether that included
    54        -- there was something about being compilations of various
    55        years, and I do not know whether that was included under
    56        that general heading.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It was, because Mr. Cesca gave evidence of
    59        lists of ranches, and they were annual -- I forget the term
    60        he used now -- but there was a list by year, as
 
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