Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 22

 
 

                                                                  Day 236
 
 
 
 
 
     1        you want to get.  So I would like you to think about that.
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   Right.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would like you to put out of your mind the
     6        feeling that subpoenaing a witness is any indication that
     7        the witness is unwilling to come.  Often it, of course, but
     8        no one ever assumes that.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:   OK.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I propose to do is ask again at the end
    13        of next week if someone will remind me, to bring me up to
    14        date on nutrition witnesses and their scheduling.
    15
    16        We will take our five minute break there.  What I am
    17        contemplating at the moment is whether Mr. Carroll should
    18        give evidence this week.  I would like you to say to me
    19        what you want to say about that.  Do not at the moment
    20        concern yourself with Mr. Nicholson.  I may have to ask you
    21        about Mr. Nicholson, but I want to hear what you want to
    22        say about Mr. Carroll, because I will listen to everything
    23        you to say.  But at the moment, it seems to me that it may
    24        well be possible to call Mr. Carroll, have his evidence
    25        completed, at least unless you discover something which you
    26        did not know was there and therefore want him to come back
    27        in the future.  We will have filled some of the time at the
    28        end of this week and we will have completed one more
    29        witness' evidence.
    30
    31                          (Short adjournment)
    32
    33   MR. MORRIS:  May I say one further thing about the nutrition
    34        matter.  It may be our position that after what happened in
    35        the Court of Appeal, and just so you know, we effectively
    36        dropped all their applications at the Court of Appeal,
    37        except for the last point which is about the effect of
    38        admissions made by the Plaintiffs.  It may be our position
    39        that we will make an application here, that no further
    40        evidence on heart disease be admissible because of the
    41        admissions made.  That is why we need to consider what the
    42        Appeal Court said and what our position is before we start
    43        booking in witnesses on specific days, but that is
    44        obviously something which an application would need to be
    45        made within a reasonable time.  So what we will do is we
    46        will try and get the transcript of the Court of Appeal as
    47        soon as possible and then see if we can find a day to make
    48        an admission.  That is our application.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I am urging you to do is, in any event, 
    51        fix your witnesses.  By all means say to them:  "We hope it 
    52        will not be necessary to call you, but the judge has said 
    53        we must fix a date for you to return to court now, in case
    54        you are required, because if we wait until the matter is
    55        argued out, we may well be left with far less options as to
    56        when you can be called."  That should appeal to them
    57        because if it comes to it, you may be put to subpoening
    58        them at hardly more than four days notice, which is
    59        minimum, I believe, to come to court because otherwise, you
    60        will be beyond the deadline when I have said the evidence
 
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