Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 16
Day 236
1 the other members of the court, said the conduct of the
2 trial is entirely a matter for your Lordship. If the
3 Defendant had a difficulty about what evidence, if any
4 further evidence they need to call, they should raise it
5 with your Lordship. It was not a matter for the Court of
6 Appeal.
7
8 I perceive the position being in relation, tell me if I am
9 wrong, that it is a matter for us, both sides apart from
10 the witnesses who have to come back, to face your
11 Lordship's meaning which is now the meaning and to ask
12 ourselves in the first place: Does that require or warrant
13 an application to your Lordship to call further evidence?
14 We have faced that problem and we have decided that the
15 answer is probably "Yes, it does". We have also reached
16 the position which we did some time ago, and my impression
17 that was the same position as your Lordship, that the
18 admission we have made in relation to heart disease is
19 limited in its effect to this extent. That it does not,
20 because it could not on the pleadings as they then stood,
21 it does express anything about the degree of risk to which
22 the consumer of the wrong kind of diet may expose himself
23 or herself. That is one of the features of your Lordship's
24 meanings to which in our belief we, for our part, and it is
25 none of my business what the Defendants do, ought to be
26 dealing with. It is just one of a number of features of
27 your Lordship's meaning that we believe we have to deal
28 with and shall do with your Lordship's leave. In our
29 submission, the Defendants are in precisely the same
30 position. It is a matter for them how far they think our
31 admission takes them in relation to your Lordship's
32 meaning.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am extremely loathe to start giving any
35 kind of indication of what evidence I think the parties
36 should or should not call or what new evidence -- that
37 could only be a provisional view and it would be a most
38 unhappy situation if I gave a view on it and then, when my
39 judgment appeared, it seemed that on reflection and having
40 considered the whole of the evidence, I have come to a
41 rather different conclusion.
42
43 MR. RAMPTON: If I may respectfully say so, that is entirely the
44 position that we take. We believe it is a matter for the
45 parties to decide what evidence they need to call. Submit
46 that evidence because now we are in a position where we
47 need leave. Submit that evidence to the court and to any
48 objections which the other side may have, and if the matter
49 be debated or opposed, upon a ruling to the court as to its
50 admissibility and the use of court time, either call or not
51 call the evidence.
52
53 MS. STEEL: I do not know, I mean I ----
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I can give you advice to some extent, it
56 is this. That if I were you, I would look at "the meaning"
57 as I hold it to be, which as I understand it, if your
58 appeal has failed means it is "the meaning" for the purpose
59 of this litigation. Look at that again; put aside any
60 admission there may have been with regard to heart disease
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