18 witnesses in Steve case
2008-03-20 08:48
Johannesburg - The case between Steve Hofmeyr and Janine van der Vyfer may only be resolved by 2012.
Hofmeyr's lawyer, Peet Viljoen, and Van der Vyfer's lawyer, Anneline Snijman, confirmed on Wednesday that the case would drag on until 2012 if the law follows its usual course.
Snijman also confirmed that at this stage she was going to call 18 witnesses on behalf of Van der Vyfer.
Hofmeyr registered an exception to Van der Vyfer's claim for damages of R2.1m, but a week before it was to be heard, it was removed from the roll after both parties agreed.
The reason for this was that Snijman wanted to make a "minor amendment, actually just one sentence" to her documents.
Snijman and Viljoen will also ask that the case be transferred to the Pretoria High Court because the parties and their legal representatives live there.
Snijman will have to serve the amended documents on Viljoen again. This had not yet happened by Wednesday.
Viljoen confirmed on Wednesday that he would again register an exception to the amended claims.
If the exception was registered it could be heard in May or June of this year, depending on how fast Van der Vyfer's court documents are changed, said Viljoen.
"If the exception succeeds, it will mean that the case could be over and done with by June for all practical purposes.
"If our exception does not succeed, however, Van der Vyfer's claim will go through the whole hearing process."
This meant that disclosure of documents had to happen before the application for a hearing date could be made. The preparatory work could last until August or September, Snijman believed.
Pretoria High Court Registrar Gerrie Prinsloo confirmed on Wednesday that the earliest hearing dates were in 2010.
If an application was made for a hearing date by August this year, it could probably only be placed on the roll for the end of 2010.
"If there are 18 witnesses for just one party, it is to be expected that the hearing will last longer than five days. This means that the Judge President must personally determine a court date for such a long hearing.
The hearing date could then be only in 2011."
Then the appeal process would follow because presumably whoever lost in the High Court would appeal.
This could take another year to 18 months, which meant that the last chapter of the saga could only be written in 2012.