Amendment of a claim

Amendment of a claim means a change in the parties or the subject matter of the claim made at the claimant’s request during the proceedings. A change in the subject matter may concern the grounds of the claim (the claimant’s factual allegations, through the addition or replacement of facts) or the relief sought in the statement of claim (the request for protection addressed to the court). Simultaneous amendment of the factual grounds and the relief sought is inadmissible, because in legal terms this would amount to bringing a new claim unrelated to the one originally brought.

A fundamental principle of civil procedure is that the court may allow amendment of a claim only on the claimant’s application. The court may not amend a claim before it of its own motion. The grounds of the claim or the relief sought may be amended no later than at the first court hearing.

Judicial practice has accepted that a request to amend a claim may be made orally at a court hearing if the defendant is present. Failure by the court to serve the defendant with a copy of the application to amend the claim constitutes a procedural breach. Otherwise, the application must be in writing, with a copy for the opposing party. The court rules immediately but orders that a copy be served on the defendant for the next hearing (that is, the case cannot be decided at the current hearing). There is no obstacle to the court ruling after taking the opposing party’s position into account. Naturally, if the amendment is not requested at a court hearing, it must be requested by a written application with a copy for the opposing party. If the amendment is requested at a hearing, the request may be made orally even in the defendant’s absence.

The court rules on whether to allow the amendment by an order. If it has omitted to issue such an order, it must determine the claim as amended in its judgment.

As a rule, an order refusing to allow the requested amendment of a claim is not subject to an interlocutory appeal, since it does not prevent the continuation of the proceedings or the claimant’s defence of their rights.