The appellant appealed a Master's decision refusing leave to amend a Statement of Claim in a defamation action.
The proposed amendments sought to add specific defamatory words allegedly spoken by the respondent to the police.
The Master had ruled that adding the specific words constituted a new, statute-barred cause of action.
The Divisional Court allowed the appeal, applying a broader, factually-oriented approach to the definition of a 'cause of action'.
The Court found that the amendments were a continuation of the existing claim arising from the same factual matrix, and the respondent was not taken by surprise.
