Cases

Wilkey & Another v BBC

Held

(1) In category 2 cases which arose before the CA gave its ruling in Anderton the dispensing power should normally be exercised in C's favour, but in post-Anderton cases the opposite outcome should be the norm.

(2) There were not good reasons for departing from this approach in the instant case, which had arisen before the clarification of the law in Anderton. It was irrelevant that Gray J said that he would have declined to disapply the limitation period even if he had had the power to do so, which he did not. C's primary purpose was not to vindicate his reputation (the BBC had already apologised) but to recover special damages estimated at over £300,000 - so time was not of the essence. The fact that the special damages claim was still substantially unquantified and somewhat opaque was not a good enough reason for not allowing the claim to go forward. The BBC had suffered no prejudice by the deemed late service of the claim form.
 

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