Professional Negligence Time Limits

There are time limits relevant to starting legal action for professional negligence compensation claims in the United Kingdom. Most of the law is contained in the Limitation Act 1980 however this statute must be considered in conjunction with case law which has the effect of clarifying the actual meaning of the statute. For most civil claims the basic time limit is six years however in cases involving person injury the basic time limit is three years. This means that a claim must be settled or proceedings must have been issued in a court of law within six years (or three years for personal injury) of the event or the opportunity to claim compensation may have been lost forever.

 

In the case of professional negligence compensation claims, time limits become considerably more complicated because the time limits may or may not be extended beyond the basic period which started when the civil wrong occurred due to the fact that professional negligence is a new event and time on an action for professional negligence may not start running until the negligence occurs or has been discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence. These limitation issues are extremely technical and can be highly complex and where limitation matters arise there should be no delay in seeking the services of an expert solicitor for advice.

 

There are however some exceptions to the basic time limits for professional negligence compensation claims. For those who are mentally incapacitated time may never start to run or will not run until mental capacity is regained. Time does not start to run until a potential claimant reaches the age of eighteen years. In addition the courts have a rarely exercised discretion to extend time limits or to determine a later date when time starts to run. The matters are highly technical and definitely not for the layman.

 

If you are unsure whether your case is out of time please contact us and we will be happy to advise or investigate for you.