Supreme Court rules against bank over time limit in PPI claims

David Greene, our Head of Class Action and Finance Litigation recently commented on the decision in Smith and another v Royal Bank of Scotland plc 

The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that two claims concerning Royal Bank of Scotland’s misselling of PPI were brought in time.

In Smith and another v Royal Bank of Scotland plc two former credit card-holders were sold payment protection insurance (PPI) policies by the bank, which received ‘very large undisclosed’ commissions.

Each claim was brought more than 10 years after the PPI policy ended and the last payment was made, but less than six years after the credit card agreement with the bank ended.

David Greene, senior partner of Edwin Coe and former president of the Law Society tweeted that the ruling was ‘very important’, stating: ‘Supreme Court overturns decision of Court of Appeal on issue of limitation in consumer credit claims. SC decided that limitation period starts when credit relationship ends extending period possibly by many years.‘

A district judge had allowed each claim, and both were successful in the subsequent appeal. The Court of Appeal, which heard the cases together, dismissed the claims on the ground that the time limit had expired before the proceedings began in 2019.

The two appellants – Karen Smith and Derek Burrell – appealed to the Supreme Court…

Read the whole article on The Law Society Gazette’s website.