NHBC and limitation

In National House Building Council v Peabody Trust [2025] EWCA Civ 932; [2025] BLR 469 the Court of Appeal held that the National House Building Council was not entitled to strike out a claim brought against it under an insurance policy on the ground that the claim was time-barred. The event insured against was not the insolvency of the contractor per se but the insured being required to pay a sum above the contract price in order to complete the works. The decision which had been made by the Deputy Judge at first instance was essentially a negative one, namely that time did not begin to run from the date of contractor insolvency. Given the case management decision which the Deputy Judge had made, it was not necessary for him to decide the point in time at which the cause of action had actually accrued. This case management decision was one which the Court of Appeal held the Deputy Judge had been entitled to make (albeit there were indications that Coulson LJ himself might have reached a different decision on the management of the case) with the consequence that the date on which the cause of action accrued would have to be decided at a later date, either as a preliminary issue or at the trial of the action.