Lloyd-Jones v Allen (No 2)

In *Lloyd-Jones v Allen (No 2)*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an application by the plaintiff to amend orders previously entered by the Court on 1 August 2012. The application sought to correct an error in the existing orders.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether it had the power to amend its own orders under the slip rule, specifically Rule 36.17 of the *Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005* (NSW), and whether the proposed amendments fell within the scope of that rule. The Court was required to determine if the amendments sought were merely to correct a clerical mistake or an error arising from an accidental slip or omission, rather than to alter the substantive decision of the Court.

The Court reasoned that Rule 36.17 permits the correction of clerical mistakes or errors arising from accidental slips or omissions in judgments or orders. Applying this principle, the Court found that the proposed amendments were necessary to accurately reflect the Court's intention and to rectify an oversight in the drafting of the original orders. The first amendment involved inserting the word "amended" before "statement of claim" in order 5(i), and the second amendment involved deleting a specific phrase from order 5(ii) which was considered to be an accidental omission. The Court concluded that these were not matters of principle but rather corrections to ensure the orders were properly expressed.

The Court ordered that order 5(i) of the Court's orders entered on 1 August 2012 be amended by adding the word "amended" prior to the words "statement of claim". Furthermore, order 5(ii) of the Court's orders entered on 1 August 2012 was ordered to be amended by deleting the words "in the event the defendant fails to establish the defence of truth to the imputations pleaded in (a) and (c) of the amended statement of claim".