Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 17
Day 236
1 from the Defendants. You can express any argument you like
2 to me, in due course, about the fact that you say this was
3 admitted. Then you may allege it was then retracted or
4 whatever, but put that all aside as a matter for argument
5 in due course. Assume that there has not been any
6 admission in relation to causation or risk of heart disease
7 and then decide which of your witnesses you would like to
8 call in relation to that. Either witnesses which you did
9 not call because you say you considered there was an
10 admission in that respect. Or witnesses whom you have
11 called, but did not go into heart disease on. Quite
12 frankly, I would not have thought that it involves the
13 calling of a lot more evidence because you can address me
14 on the matter at any stage in the future, but I would have
15 thought that is your first step.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: Is there not any -- I mean I do not really know.
18 We do need to sit down and think about the effect of the
19 judgment and the matters relating to the admission -- but
20 is there no kind of legal thing about if you make an
21 admission? You know, it has to stand and you cannot change
22 your mind halfway through?
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: I have not changed my mind. The admission does
25 still stand. It is admitted there is a association or
26 evidence of association, and it is admitted that it is
27 causal in nature. If I have said it once, I have said it
28 half a dozen times. I said it in my skeleton argument in
29 the Court of Appeal. I was not called on, so I did not
30 actually say it to their Lordships. It is and has been
31 admitted ever since the argument on the application by us
32 for leave to amend, if not before, that the association is
33 causal in nature.
34
35 What has not been admitted, because it has never been
36 pleaded, is what the degree of risk is, which is a separate
37 question.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: I do not know because we have not got the Court of
40 Appeal's judgment. The point was that the Court of Appeal
41 recognised that there was an issue over the effect of the
42 admissions which was a matter for this court to deal with
43 and we are waiting for that judgment so that we can bring
44 it back to this court.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have you ordered a transcript?
47
48 MS. STEEL: We were told something about they would take, I
49 cannot remember, I think they said 3 weeks.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have actually ordered a transcript?
52
53 MS. STEEL: We asked. We have not formally ordered it.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You will not be sent one as a matter of
56 course.
57
58 MS. STEEL: We will not? No, we have not formally ordered
59 one. We did speak to somebody with about it when the court
60 ordered and they said about 3 weeks.
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