Day 078 - 26 Jan 95 - Page 16
1
2 But at the moment I have no reason to believe that that is
3 the case. It seems to me that we are in just the same
4 situation which we were with Mr. Morris' document --
5 I cannot remember which one that was now -- we got through
6 that eventually in a satisfactory way in that the procedure
7 was followed which Mr. Rampton has just suggested after I
8 had made a ruling which was based upon this very same
9 extract from Phipson.
10
11 What you are not allowed to do (and what Mr. Rampton would
12 not be allowed to do) is to just read out in court bits of
13 a document which, as it appears to me at the moment,
14 subject to anything you want to say, is inadmissible
15 because that is just a way of getting out in court that
16 which is not admissible in evidence, or it might be
17 suspected that that is just a way getting out in court that
18 which is inadmissible.
19
20 MS. STEEL: I still think we are entitled to read it out as a
21 cross-examination tool, not as evidence but -----
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23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just borrow my Phipson and read it.
24
25 MS. STEEL: Can I also say that I really do not know why
26 Mr. Rampton is making a fuss about this since the admission
27 says that it was after burgers anyway. It does not say
28 after drinking milk from somewhere else. It is about
29 burgers.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But, you see, you are questioning a witness
32 who is not party to McDonald's admission, so far as I am
33 aware. He may agree with it, he may not agree with, I just
34 do not know. He is just another witness in the witness box
35 for the purposes of this case. Do you actually want to
36 read the bit from Phipson or not?
37
38 MR. MORRIS: With respect, no. I think that we are entitled to
39 use the document to question the witness, but not rely on
40 it as evidence in itself. That is the way I understand
41 what was read out by Mr. Rampton. Secondly, our expert on
42 food poisoning, Richard North, who is coming later on,
43 refers to the document and he is entitled to refer to the
44 document as an expert. Thirdly, I think that if there is
45 any question on this that we apply for a subpoena from the
46 court to have the person responsible for this document come
47 to court to verify the accuracy of it.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Firstly, when Mr. North comes into the
50 witness box, if you have any argument in relation to his
51 possible use of the document, I will rule on that if there
52 is any dispute. You can make your application for a
53 subpoena at some convenient moment, not in the middle of
54 cross-examination of a witness. For the time being,
55 I accept that part of what is set out in Phipson which
56 Mr. Rampton has read is an accurate statement of the law
57 and it includes the words: "The proper way is for
58 counsel", and the same applies to you, "to put the document
59 into the hands of the witness and without describing it at
60 all simply to ask: 'Look at that piece of paper: do you
