After leading 9♣, N called to express concern about the hand E held and the bidding. During the bidding, W hesitated before making the 3 NT call. E stated she believed they were playing Bergen raises with overcalls, but her partner confirmed they were not. W had not alerted the 3♣ bid. We concluded that E came to the realization that she had misbid when her partner did not alert her call and her subsequent bidding must reflect that her bid meant she had a good raise with a long ♣ suit, which her partner and opponents understood that she had. After her partner bid 3 NT, we concluded that she did not have another bid and scored the hand at that contract by W, off 3. We believed that W's failure to alert was extraneous information from partner under L16B.1.
Some players have told me they strongly believe you have the right to bid your hand as you choose. Indeed, 3♣ could have been a psyche which she intended to correct to 4♠ at her next opportunity, although my conversation with her indicated otherwise. The question comes down to whether you can make a bidding mistake and later correct it. L16B.1. seems to allow it if you weren't alerted to your mistake by extraneous information from partner. In this case, we believed she was influenced by W's hesitation and failure to alert and was therefore not allowed to correct.