In Matthew v Sedman [2019] EWCA Civ 475, the Court of Appeal determined that a professional negligence claim was brought out of time; the case turned on a matter of seconds.
Matthew v Sedman – Case Details
The claim arose out of a professional trustee’s alleged failure to take action under a Scheme of Arrangement. The Scheme of Arrangement set a contractual limitation date of 2 June 2011. This meant that the trustee’s failure to take action under the Scheme of Arrangement began on 3rd June 2011. The question was whether the failure began on the stroke of midnight or a moment thereafter.
This question was crucial as it determined whether 3rd June 2011 itself would be counted within the 6 years to take action against the trustees. If a cause of action begins part way through a day, that day will not be counted for the purposes of the limitation period.
The claim against the trustees had not been issued until 5th June 2017 (being the Monday following Saturday 3rd June 2017). If 3rd June 2011 was included in the 6 year time period, the claim was out of time, if it did not, it could continue.
This was a complex but important point and the Court of Appeal referred back to case law over 100 years old to determine that the negligence case arose on the stroke of midnight, not at a theoretical moment just after midnight. This meant that 3rd June 2011 was included in the 6 year limitation period and the professional negligence case had been issued one day too late so this aspect of the claim was struck out.
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