Time limits

The Government has accepted the Law Commission’s recommendation in its report, Limitation of Actions, for a primary limitation period of three years running from the date the claimant knew, or ought to have known, the facts giving rise to the claim, subject to a provision that no claims could be brought after the expiry of 10 years from the date when the cause of action arose, except in personal injury cases. The Lord Chancellor commented that the proposals would benefit claimants, defendants and others by providing greater clarity and certainty in the law, by unifying the various disparate periods of time in which claimants have to bring court action on a wide range of civil proceedings.