Canada Square Operations Ltd (Appellant) v Potter (Respondent)
Case ID: 2021/0139
Case summary
Issue
The Limitation Act 1980 sets out the time limits (or limitation periods) for bringing different kinds of legal claims. Section 32(1)(b) postpones the commencement of the ordinary limitation period where any fact relevant to the claimant's right of action has been "deliberately concealed" from them by the defendant. Section 32(2) provides that, for the purposes of section 32(1), "deliberate commission of a breach of duty in circumstances in which it is unlikely to be discovered for some time amounts to deliberate concealment of the facts involved in that breach of duty."
In this appeal, the Supreme Court is asked to clarify the meaning of the phrases "deliberately concealed" in section 32(1)(b) and "deliberate commission of a breach of duty" in section 32(2), so as to determine whether Mrs Potter's claim against Canada Square Operations Ltd ("Canada Square"), was issued too late and is therefore time barred.
Facts
In July 2006, Mrs Potter took out a loan with Canada Square. At Canada Square's suggestion, Mrs Potter also took out insurance under a payment protection insurance policy (“the PPI Policy”). Mrs Potter was not told that over 95% of the premium for the PPI Policy was paid to Canada Square as its commission on the sale of the Policy (“the Commission”).
In December 2018, Mrs Potter issued a claim against Canada Square, to recover the sums that she had paid under the PPI Policy, plus interest. Canada Square argued that it was too late for Mrs Potter to bring this kind of claim, as section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980 imposed a six-year limitation period, which had long expired. Relying on section 32 of that Act, Mrs Potter argued that the six-year period did not begin to run until she found out about the Commission in 2018.
The County Court decided that section 32 of the Limitation Act 1980 applied and ordered Canada Square to pay Mrs Potter £7,953. Canada Square appealed, unsuccessfully, to the High Court and then to the Court of Appeal. Canada Square now appeals to the Supreme Court.
Judgment appealed
Parties
Appellant(s)
Canada Square Operations Ltd
Respondent(s)
Beverley Potter
Appeal
Justices
Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Kitchin, Lord Sales, Lord Lloyd–Jones
Hearing start date
14 June 2022
Hearing finish date
15 June 2022
| Watch hearing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 14 June 2022 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
| 15 June 2022 | Morning session | Afternoon session |
Judgment details
Judgment date
15 November 2023
Neutral citation
[2023] UKSC 41
- Judgment (PDF)
- Press Summary (PDF)
- Judgment on The National Archives (HTML version)
- Press Summary on The National Archives (HTML version)
- Judgment on BAILII (HTML version)
| Watch Judgment summary | |
|---|---|
| 15 November 2023 | Judgment summary |