Baker and Starskey (No. 2)

This matter concerned an application to rectify an order of the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia made on 20 February 2009. The parties to the proceeding were Baker and Starskey.

The sole legal issue before Judicial Registrar Loughnan was whether the court had the power to rectify its previous order under the slip rule, and if so, whether the circumstances warranted such rectification.

The Judicial Registrar found that the slip rule permitted the correction of clerical errors or errors arising from an accidental slip or omission in an order. In this instance, by consent of the parties, it was determined that the figure $89,377.50 previously recorded in Order 1 contained a clerical error and should have been $83,241.

Accordingly, the court ordered that the order of 20 February 2009 be rectified by replacing the figure $89,377.50 with the figure $83,241 in Order 1.