While the relevant principles for the limitation of actions in contractual and tortious claims are well settled, difficult issues frequently arise in the law of contribution and indemnity, as the recent case of RG Carter Building vs Kier Business Services illustrates. RG Carter had built a school science block to the design of Kier. Defects subsequently manifested, so the ultimate client, Lincolnshire council, brought arbitration proceedings. Negotiations began in late March 2015 and a settlement agreement was reached on 29 June 2015. 

Two years later, RG Carter issued proceedings seeking a contribution from Kier to the cost of works after the settlement. Kier indicated it would be taking a limitation defence and the parties agreed for the question of whether the claim was time-barred to be tried as a preliminary issue. Because of the terms of a standstill agreement, that issue turned on whether the claim was in or out of time as of 28 April 2017.

“But what counts as an “agreement”? Is there an agreement for the purposes of section 10(4) only when all the ‘i’s are dotted and all the ‘t’s crossed, or does something less binding suffice?”

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