Time limits in compensation claims
The Limitation Act 1980.states that court proceedings in compensation claims have to be issued within a strict time limit known as the "limitation period".
If you do not comply with the limitation period that applies to your compensation claim, you are likely to lose for ever the chance to pursue it. It is therefore important that you do not delay in making a claim as soon as you know that something has gone wrong.
In most professional negligence cases, you have 6 years to issue court proceedings for a compensation claim. Limitation is extremely complicated and mistakes by solicitors about time limits give rise to a large number of compensation claims. As a general rule, the 6 year period for compensation claims starts running from the date that your solicitor was negligent, or the date that you suffered loss. For example, if your solicitor failed to issue court proceedings in a personal injury compensation claim within the 3 year time limit, the 6 year period will start from the deadline that your solicitor missed. You would therefore have 9 years from the date of your original accident to issue the compensation claim.
However, if you can show that you were not aware of the negligence until later, you will usually be allowed to issue a court proceedings up to 3 years from the date you found out, or 6 years from the date of the negligence, whichever is the later. In extreme cases, if the negligence was deliberately concealed from you, the full 6 year period to make a compensation claim will run from the date you found out.
Calculating limitation periods can be difficult, particularly in professional negligence compensation claims. It is therefore important that you obtain legal advice as soon as you discover that you may have a claim.