Lisa Maree Campbell as Administrator ad litem of the Estate of the Late Ralph Gordon Barry Campbell v Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Lisa Maree Campbell, as Administrator ad litem of the Estate of the Late Ralph Gordon Barry Campbell, appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the primary judge. The dispute concerned an application to amend a statement of claim, and the appeal challenged the primary judge's grant of leave to file a further amended statement of claim.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the primary judge had erred in granting leave to file the further amended statement of claim, specifically whether the proposed amendments constituted a fundamentally different claim in law, and whether the defendants would suffer prejudice as a result of such amendments.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the application for leave to appeal. The reasoning focused on the nature of the proposed amendments and the potential for prejudice. The Court found that the amendments did not introduce a wholly new cause of action but rather sought to reframe the existing claim in law. Furthermore, the Court was satisfied that any prejudice that might arise could be adequately addressed through costs orders, rather than by refusing leave to amend.

Consequently, the application for leave to appeal was dismissed, and the applicants were ordered to pay the respondents' costs.