When the court makes a ruling and the ruling itself contains a mistake, what happens?
The answer lies in the nature of the mistake and the exact circumstances. In a recent case involving the balance due to be paid to the constructor of a superyacht, the court ruled that the constructor should be paid more than £200,000.
The defendant argued that the ruling was in error because it had already paid £87,500 of the sum due under the order, which its barrister had failed to notice. It went back to the court to have the order amended.
There is a rule of court which allows accidental ‘slips’ to be corrected in certain circumstances. Although this does not usually apply when the court has left the details of the settlement to be agreed by the parties after the ruling, the court clearly could not intend for the same sum to be paid twice.