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Horton v. Sadler & Anor

Horton v. Sadler & Anor

Case [2006] UKHL 27

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In Walkley v Precision Forgings Ltd [1979] 1 WLR 606 the House ruled that the court may not exercise its power to disapply the ordinary time limit in a personal injuries action under what is now section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 where a claimant had issued proceedings in respect of those injuries before the ordinary time limit expired and has brought a second action (in which the application under section 33 is made) after expiry. In this appeal the House is invited by the appellant to depart from that ruling pursuant to the Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) [1966] 1 WLR 1234. The Motor Insurers' Bureau ("the MIB"), the only effective respondent, submits that the House should adhere to its decision.

The proceedings

On 12 April 1998 the appellant was injured in a road traffic accident for which the first defendant, Mr Sadler, was wholly responsible. Mr Sadler was not insured, as he should have been, against third party risks. The MIB nominated insurers to act as its agents and the appellant's solicitors corresponded with them. In October 2000 the MIB made an interim payment of £3,675 to the appellant. On 10 April 2001, two days before expiry of the three-year limitation period, the appellant's solicitors issued proceedings against Mr Sadler, but they then failed to comply with a condition precedent of MIB's liability under the agreement made between it and the Secretary of State for Transport by giving notice of the proceedings to MIB. Having been joined as a party to the proceedings on its application, the MIB served a defence, in which it denied liability, relying on the failure to comply with the notice condition, and counterclaimed for return of the interim payment.

In September 2001 the appellant issued what were in effect duplicate proceedings against Mr Sadler. On this occasion the appellant gave the necessary notice to the MIB, which in October 2001, on its application, was joined as a party to the second action also. Its main defence was that the appellant's claim in the action was statute-barred by section 11 of the 1980 Act. The appellant responded by seeking an order disapplying the ordinary 3-year time limit under section 33 of the 1980 Act. It was ordered that preliminary issues be tried as to the liability of the MIB in the first action and the disapplication of the ordinary time limit under section 33 in the second.

These issues were resolved in the Salford County Court by His Honour Judge Roger Cooke, who held that the MIB was under no liability in the first action and that the appellant should repay the interim payment he had received with interest. That ruling was not the subject of appeal. In the second action he ruled that he was precluded from exercising the power conferred on the court by section 33 by the decision of the House in Walkley, which was neither distinguishable nor incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. But he went…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2006] UKHL 27
Decision Date