Jazztel: restitution and retrospectivity

The High Court has partially allowed Jazztel’s claim in unjust enrichment for restitution of unlawful SDRT payments paid under mistake of law. Claims for restitution of payments made prior to 8 September 2003 are exempt from FA 2004 s 320(1), which purported retrospectively to dis-apply s 32(1)(c) of the Limitation Act 1980. Section 32(1) provided that limitations periods for mistake claims only start to run when the claimant ‘has discovered the … mistake … or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it’. However, the court held that s 320(1) is effective to disapply s 32(1)(c) and curtail mistake claims brought after 8 September 2003.