Berryman v Joslyn (3)

Berryman (the appellant) appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against an order made by a single judge in proceedings against Joslyn (the respondent). The dispute concerned the correction of an earlier court order.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the original order, which had been made on 16 July 2004, contained an error that warranted correction. Specifically, the court had to determine if the phrase "from the date of payment" in the original order should be replaced with "from 13 December 1999".

The Court of Appeal found that the original order contained a clerical error. It reasoned that the intention of the original order was to specify an interest commencement date of 13 December 1999, and the inclusion of "from the date of payment" was a mistake. The court applied the principle that it has the power to correct clerical mistakes or errors arising from an accidental slip or omission in an order to reflect the true intention of the court.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal ordered that Order 5 made in proceedings No CA 40888/99 on 16 July 2004 be corrected by deleting the words "from the date of payment" and substituting in lieu thereof the words "from 13 December 1999".