The law in New South Wales that gives farmers additional rights of mediation in dealing with their lenders has been clarified by a recent ruling on the High Court of Australia.One impact of the court's ruling, handed down the week before last, is that lenders must take care to document any advance or extension of a loan as a "variation", a term with a narrow meaning under the law.The High Court overturned an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal in NSW that found in favour of Hargraves Secured Investments in relation to a A$450,000 loan taken in 2004 by Roslyn Waller. At the time of the Court of Appeal ruling, the amount in dispute had escalated, with costs, to close to $1 million.Waller had found herself in default soon after taking out the loan. After mediation, Hargraves made a second loan, and, after that loan also ran into strife, the financier provided a third loan.Each of the three loans was secured by an "all monies" mortgage, according to a summary of the case circulated by Amber Warren, a partner with Gadens Lawyers in Sydney.Warren wrote in her analysis that where lenders restructure farm debt in default they have to include "every existing 'farm debt' in the section 8 notice to ensure that each 'farm debt' has been the subject of mediation".The lender must also reserve all its rights in relation to the farmer's default under the terms of any prior loan or "farm mortgage", Warren wrote.Warren also suggested that lenders "document any further advance of funds as an additional facility, secured by a second registered mortgage."