Time limit for claims

[julienetmum]

If someone filed a claim for compensation with the court for an accident within the 3 year time limit (only just) but then didn't send the paperwork to the defendant for 3 and a half months is the claim still valid.

Yes - provided court issued the claim within the time limit. I'm assuming that as the court have finally sent the papers to the other side, then the court accepts that the claim was issued in time. If it was out of time and that was the courts fault, you can ask for a preliminary hearing to ask the court to allow the claim anyway.

The form came from the claimants solicitor.

It just doesn't seem fair that they can hold on to the paperwork for that long when we thought it was all over as the time limit had passed.

Claim form was stamped mid November, time limit was late November, solicitor letter which accompanied form dated March.

Lots of solicitors do this. As you say, the time limit for filing a personal injury claim is 3 years. It can sometimes take much longer than this to collate all the evidence, get medical reports, etc. So solicitors will issue proceedings within the time limit to ensure they are not time-barred and then serve them on the other side when they are ready.