Day 168 - 03 Oct 95 - Page 03
1 Morris', everything else here to an extent at least must be
2 argued. That is likely to take a little time.
3
4 What your Lordship, I believe, indicated yesterday was
5 that, if necessary, discovery having been made after
6 argument and, according to your Lordship's order, such as
7 it may be, your Lordship will decide whether or not
8 Mr. Richards would need to come back.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think this has turned into a much more
11 substantial argument than just a five, 10 minute gloss on
12 anything which was argued and which might be the subject of
13 a ruling on a number of matters. The way my mind is
14 working at the moment is that we should press ahead with
15 cross-examination of Mr. Richards on what we have at the
16 moment and, hopefully, we will finish cross-examination of
17 Mr. Richards, subject to any discovery which I do order in
18 the future in relation to Bath and the question of any
19 recall of Mr. Richards, and then at some stage in the near
20 future, I hope -- we move off bath after Mr. Richards ---
21
22 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, we do.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- I will hear proper argument about what we
25 should have. I make it clear that, having heard argument,
26 it may be that I will make some preliminary order as to
27 discovery or give some indication as to what should come
28 first. So, before the possibility of more extensive
29 discovery is directed or ordered, we can have a look at
30 what is forthcoming, and go from there. Because what I
31 have to do is try to balance the possibility that
32 documentation might really help against the fact that I am
33 extremely reluctant to keep having more and more discovery
34 as the case progresses, because the time approaches as the
35 witnesses are to be called or as they come into the witness
36 box it is discovered there might be more relevant
37 documents. That is balance having heard argument, I have
38 to draw in some way.
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. My Lord, two things: I respectfully accept
41 what your Lordship has said and it will certainly be the
42 course that I would recommend. My Lord, can I say two
43 things, first, Mr. Morris has written "promised" beside
44 item 4 of his list -- not so, in fact. Looking at
45 yesterday's transcript at page 59, what I did promise was
46 to look for the Head Office store audit (in the singular)
47 which is alleged to have been critical of the performance
48 review practices at Bath. So the word "promise" should be
49 crossed out or else the entry should be amended. That is
50 the only comment I make about that at the moment.
51
52 My Lord, as to these questions, I wonder if I might have
53 your Lordship's leave for Mr. Atkinson to show this
54 document to Mr. Richards and ask him if he is familiar with
55 it, whether he has seen it before and, if so, if he is in a
56 position to deal with the various matters which it raises.
57 At present, I make no comment about the timing of the
58 emergence of this document. I say only that it is
59 unfortunate it should have happened while the witness is in
60 the witness box.
