A Bill to amend the Limitation Act (The Limitation (Amendment) Act 2009) was published earlier this year following which Government sought comment from the insurance and legal communities to its proposals to rebalance the position between buyer and seller when defective products or services are sold. The Act was passed in Parliament on 23 October 2009 and came into operation on 29 October 2009.
Prior to the Act problems existed for claimants who sought to commence contractual claims as the cause of action may have occurred some years before the subsequent defect had manifested itself. A classic example would be faulty foundations resulting in cracked walls. A potential claimant would therefore not have been aware that a cause of action had arisen and as a result limitation may have expired by the time the cause of the defect became apparent or perhaps even before the defect became evident.
At the time of publishing the Bill the Minister for Justice said that “at one level it is clearly unfair that someone should be barred from bringing a case to court simply because the facts giving rise to a claim were not ascertainable until after the six year limitation period had expired. It is also right that we should attempt to protect the consumer against mis-selling of financial products or, indeed, defective construction work, by ensuring their claim remains alive until the facts giving rise to their claim are known.”
The Limitation (Amendment) Act 2009 assists claimants by preventing negligence claims from being time-barred as long as the claim is initiated within three years from the detection of the defect. This, however, does not apply to negligence claims in respect of personal injuries or death.
The Act does impose an extended limitation of 15 years of the breach of duty, i.e. the laying of the deficient foundations. The 15 year period will apply whether or not a defect has emerged or been revealed.
The amendments introduced by the Act will be effective in relation to causes of action arising before and after commencement of operation of the Act but shall not have an effect on any action which was already time-barred or had been begun before the Act came into force.