In brief: Amendments to statements of case, limitation, Peruvian law, group litigation (Vilca v Xstrata Ltd)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was this case about?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: Christopher Snell, barrister at No5 Chambers, considers the case of Vilca v Xstrata Ltd. This was an application made by Xstrata Ltd to amend its defence at a late stage of proceedings, when a trial date had been fixed, in order to raise the issue of limitation. That issue had never been raised before and there was no good reason why it had not. Despite that fact, the judge allowed the amendment so as to avoid Vilca being the beneficiary of a potentially artificial windfall. The case contains some important guidance on the court’s approach to amendments and the distinction between ‘late amendments’ and ‘very late amendments’.