JMW’s specialist commercial litigation solicitors were successful with their application in the High Court, to have their opponent’s legal claim struck out for being out of time and an abuse of process. This success has brought a speedy end to the litigation and saved our clients having to incur the time and expense of defending the claim to a trial.   

Background

Mr X (now deceased) had loaned the claimant a significant sum of money to convert a property. The property was sold, and Mr X was not made aware of the sale. At that time only a fraction of the loaned monies had been repaid. Mr X subsequently took a charge over property to secure repayment. When payment was not made, Mr X obtained possession and sold the property at auction. The proceeds were retained by Mr X’s solicitors pending agreement of distribution of the proceeds. In 2016, the court was asked to decide how proceeds were to be distributed which the court did, and payments were made.

JMW is now acting for the personal representatives of Mr X (deceased). The claimant had claimed that the property was wrongly sold, and that the claimant had lost the difference between the value of the property and the amount the property was sold for at auction.

How did JMW help?

JMW successfully made an application to the High Court to have the claim struck out. JMW argued that the claim should be struck out because:

• the claim was ‘out of time’, having been brought more than six years after any cause of action accrued;
• the relevant limitation period was six years and not twelve years as claimed by the Claimant. JMW submitted that the Claimant’s claim was not one which arose from a breach of the mortgage deed, which would have meant the limitation period was 12 years (and the Claimant’s claim was in time);
• the Claimant’s attempts to file a claim at Court within the six-year limitation period were not sufficient for the claim to have been ‘brought’ for limitation purposes; and,
• the claim was an abuse of process because it attempted to raise issues that should have been raised in earlier proceedings and / or had already been finally determined by the court;

The outcome

JMW were successful on all grounds of the application. The court decided that the claimant’s claim was time barred because, the actual limitation period was six years, and the claimant claim had been brought more than six years after any cause of action accrued. Additionally, the Court also held that the claim was an abuse of process.

Specialist commercial litigation lawyer Nathan Dean said:

“Understandably it was a worrying time for our clients and the wider family, who had to deal with High Court litigation arising from a dispute their Father was involved in before he passed away.  Upon being instructed and discussing matters with our clients, we felt that there were serious issues with the Claimant’s claim and there were grounds for the Court to deal with this claim at an interim hearing which would avoid the clients having to deal with a lengthy litigation and a trial. We therefore filed an application at Court and I am pleased the court agreed with our arguments and that we were able to have the claim struck out in its entirety. This brought an end to the claim for our clients at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Upon being informed of the outcome our clients said:

“Wonderful news, well done to everyone who has worked hard on this, the cloud has been lifted.

Appreciate all the hard work and congratulations also to Nathan, Lenna and Darcey for everything you have done since February”