SECTION 32(2) OF LIMITATION ACT 1980 DOES NOT EXTEND TO A NEGLIGENCE CLAIM

Cave v Robinson Jarvis & Rolf (a firm) [2002] UKHL 18; [2002] 2 WLR 1107

The House of Lords in Cave v Robinson Jarvis & Rolf (a firm) [2002] UKHL 18; [2002] 2 WLR 1107 held that s.32 of the Limitation Act 1980 deprives a defendant of a limitation defence in two circumstances. The first is where he takes active steps to conceal his own breach of duty after he has become aware of it. The second is where he is guilty of deliberate wrongdoing and conceals or fails to disclose it in circumstances where it is unlikely to be discovered for some time. But it does not deprive a defendant of a limitation defence where he is charged with negligence if, being unaware of his error or that he has failed to take proper care, there has been nothing for him to disclose. In so concluding their Lordships rejected the analysis of section 32 adopted by the Court of Appeal in Brocklesby v Armitage & Guest [2002] 1 WLR 598, the effect of which had been, effectively, to deprive defendants of a limitation defence in many professional negligence cases. The present decision restores the limitation defence to a defendant who is alleged to have been negligent but has not sought in any way to conceal the consequences of his conduct from the claimant.