In brief: Claim not statute barred despite standstill agreement being poorly drafted (Russell v Stone (trading as PSP Consultants))

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: Clive Freedman, barrister at 3 Verulam Buildings, considers the case of Russell v Stone (trading as PSP Consultants). The parties entered into a series of standstill agreements in order to enable the claimants to defer commencement of proceedings without the defendants losing the protection of the limitation period. The standstill agreements were based on a template published by a third party, but the parties had made changes to the wording of the template. The defendants contended that the claimants had commenced proceedings after the latest date for doing so provided for by the standstill agreements, and that certain of the claims were statute-barred and should be struck out. The court held that the proceedings had been commenced in time and dismissed the defendant’s application.