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Continuing breach, limitation and claim form sufficiency in professional negligence: strike-out refused over 1986 pension benefit error and 1998 deed drafting (England and Wales)

Published on: 12 January 2023

Published by a LexisNexis Pensions expert
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Article summary

Honda Group-UK Pension Scheme Trustee Ltd and others v Mercer Ltd and another [2022] EWHC 3197 (Ch), [2022] All ER (D) 75 (Dec)

What are the practical implications of this case?

In considering continuing breach, Mr Justice Trower distils the authorities confirming that a professional is generally under no obligation to return to a task once completed. Authorities include New Islington and Hackney Housing Association Ltd v Pollard Thomas & Edwards Ltd [2001] PNLR 20 at [14]–[20], Capita (Banstead) 2011) Ltd v RFIB Group Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 1310 at [19]), and PSGS Trust Corp Ltd v Aon UK Ltd [2022] EWHC 2058 (Ch). As His Honour Judge Richard Seymour QC observed in Tesco Stores Ltd v Costain Construction Ltd [2003] EWHC 1487 (TCC) at [270], in ordinary life a task considered satisfactorily finished is set aside and attention moves on; requiring endless reviews would freeze activity through anxious reconsideration of settled ground. The message is that, absent a defined duty to monitor or update, the law will not usually require professionals to revisit past work, and claims framed as continuing breaches are unlikely to succeed where the original engagement ended absent any ongoing retainer or review duty...

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