Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 04
1 an animal welfare policy and, if so, what its terms are ---
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: That is right.
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5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- and when it came into effect.
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7 MR. RAMPTON: That is right. One cannot tell when it came into
8 effect.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. But if it relates to anything, that will
11 be one of the topics that the documents might relate to.
12 That is one of the topics either you have yet to deal with
13 completely or that you might well want to come back to in
14 the light of whatever is contained in these documents.
15
16 What I suggest is that you proceed with your joint
17 cross-examination, leaving that topic on one side, if you
18 wish, because if you are not going to complete your
19 cross-examination of Dr. Gomez Gonzalez today and Dr. Gomez
20 Gonzalez has to come back at some time in the future, that
21 means you will have ample time to look at these documents,
22 and if, reading them, it occurs to you there may be yet
23 others, to request that the others are looked for. Do you
24 understand?
25
26 If we were to make good progress today and it looked as if
27 there was any possibility of you completing all of your
28 cross-examination of Dr. Gomez Gonzalez, then we might have
29 to think about giving you some time to look at these
30 first. But if we start on that basis, we will see how we
31 go.
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, the other matter I would like to raise
34 is, on the other hand, no fault of McDonald's. I use the
35 word "fault" neutrally. It is the fault of Defendants, in
36 that they lost these documents or overlooked them for a
37 period of six months. In relation to that bundle of
38 documents which the Defendants handed in the other day,
39 Dr. Gomez Gonzalez has now had a chance to go through them,
40 and he knows what they are.
41
42 First, I would submit that I ought to be entitled anyway to
43 ask him questions in chief about them, since I would have
44 that opportunity if they had been disclosed at the proper
45 time, six months ago; second, because in the end it will
46 save time because, to a large extent, they do not speak for
47 themselves, they have to be explained, and it will obviate
48 what I might call politely one of Mr. Morris' voyages of
49 discovery if I am able to ask some questions -- just by way
50 of explanation, really, and amplification -- of
51 Dr. Gomez Gonzalez in chief.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That relates, really, to the documents which
54 came under cover of -----
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: That is right, my Lord. Only those documents, the
57 letter from the Freedom of Information Act people in
58 America, Mr. Stafko.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Stafko. What do you say about that? The
