What Should Claimants Do When Limitation Is About To Expire?

Noting the recent Court of Appeal decision in Grant v Dawn Meats (UK), Stephen Innes and Hannah Daly of 4 New Square consider the options open to Claimants.

When things go wrong in this situation, the courts always say that service should not be left to the last minute. That is the best advice of course, where time allows. But what if a claimant does not have the luxury of time, and limitation is about to expire?

One option is to invite the proposed defendant to enter into a standstill agreement to allow more time for proceedings to be issued.

However, the anecdotal experience is that defendants have been less willing to do so since the increase in court fees and the LASPO reforms making ATE premiums irrecoverable, as defendants are more willing to test whether claimants really do have the mettle and financial resources to issue proceedings.