Replace Limitation Act with three-year rule, urges report

The Limitation Act 1980 should be repealed and replaced with a standard three-year limitation period, the Law Commission said this week.A Commission report found that the Act does not always make clear which category a claim falls into, and can result in unfairness to claimants and defendants.A draft Bill published with the report proposes a core regime to apply to all claims so far as possible, consisting of a three-year limitation period beginning when the claimant is aware of the facts, with an absolute long-stop ten years after the event.This would apply to contract and tort cases generally.

For personal injury cases, only the three-year period will apply, not the ten-year long-stop.

Claims for land recovery, though not included in the core regime, would still be subject to the ten year long-stop.LINKS www.lawcom.gov.ukJeremy Fleming