Delays to the start of the primary limitation period will continue to be rare, say Daniel Preddy and Simon Thomas
The recent Court of Appeal case of Shore v Sedgwick Financial Services Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 863 , [2008] All ER (D) 304 (Jul) clarifies the date on which a claimant's cause of action arises in negligence under the primary limitation period (Limitation Act 1980, s 2). This is crucial to understanding whether any such claim is time-barred.
Section 2 provides that “an action founded on tort shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued”. A claim in negligence accrues when the claimant suffers damage. However, this raises the often problematic question of when that first occurs.
Shore, together with the recent Court of Appeal decision in Watkins v Jones Maidment Wilson [2008] EWCA Civ 134, [2008] All ER (D) 27 (Mar) confirms that claimants will only be able to delay the start of the primary limitation period in rare circumstances, thereby narrowing the impact of two House of Lords' decisions,
