House of Lords judgment due next week

On Wednesday 30th January, the House of Lords is set to deliver its judgment on the cases of X & Y v London Borough of Wandsworth and related appeals. For those of you who have been following our ‘change the limitation laws’ campaign, this could be the end of a long legal battle for our clients X and Y to get the compensation they deserve, following sexual abuse by a teacher at their school when they were teenagers. The sticking point all along has been that the limitation laws currently prevent some people who have suffered abuse from successfully claiming compensation because they are out of time to do so. The law currently requires some claimants to issue proceedings before their 24th birthday, even though many clients do not appreciate the damage done to them by the abuse until much later.

Jonathan Wheeler, partner and head of the child abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp represents X and Y: “We are anxious to receive the ‘Lords judgment.” he said. “If it is positive, not only my clients but people in a similar position all around the country will be able to bring claims where previously they may have been advised that there is no claim at all.”

We will report more next week once the outcome of our clients’ appeal is known.

You can also take a look at a recent petition to the Prime Minister about changing the limitation law