Cusack v De Angelis

[2007] QCA 313

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Judgments and orders
3. › Default judgment
4. › Setting aside or amending
5. › Power to amend under UCPR r 290
6. › Whether amendment limited to correcting slips or omissions
7. › Whether court may reduce judgment sum
8. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 5, r 290
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Judgments and orders
3. › Default judgment
4. › Irregularly entered judgment
5. › Whether judgment entered for excessive amount is irregular
6. › Whether defendant entitled to have judgment set aside ex debito justitiae
7. › Circumstances constituting irregularity in default judgments

Quick Take

UCPR r 290 confers a broad power on the court to amend a default judgment, including by substantially reducing the judgment sum, and is not limited to correcting errors arising from slips or omissions. Where a default judgment is entered for an excessive amount and the plaintiff consents to reduction, the court may amend the judgment rather than set it aside, particularly where the defendant has no defence on the merits. It remains doubtful whether a default judgment entered for an amount including a contractual default interest rate that may constitute a penalty is 'irregularly entered' for the purposes of the ex debito justitiae right to set aside.