Ok, so Covid has affected every single aspect of our lives and has and is causing huge problems with the court systems. There have been outbreaks of Covid emanating from the courts, there are shortages of judiciary to hear cases and a massive backlog of cases. On top of all of that Covid is now apparently rampant in our prisons. Covid’s impact on limitation periods is just one more thing!

It's useful to have a handle on limitation periods – it can come up in problem questions and it’s pretty key when you get into legal practice. The law is set out in the Limitation Act 1980 (“LA”); this defines the periods following events during which a claim can be brought. In contract and for torts including negligence the limitation period is 6 years from the breach or act complained of, for personal injury the period is only 3 years.

Under s.33 LA the courts have discretion to extend the limitation period. It is likely that some cases may arise under this section as a result of Covid. The first problem claimants may encounter is problems with service of documents. What if they serve on offices which are closed? There has already been a case where a default judgment has been set aside when it was obtained after a claim was served on an unoccupied office during lockdown, the defendants were unaware of the purported service (MS v A Local Authority [2020]).

Serious problems are likely to be accruing in relation to cases where experts reports are needed to progress the matter and cannot be obtained. Solicitors are going to have to show that particular problems arose as a result of Covid; courts will not be granting blanket extensions.

All of this might be really handy for you if you have to write anything about the effects of Covid. Look out for more blogs from us covering other aspects.