COURT GRANTS MORE TIME TO BRING PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS

May 18th, 2009 Hinchliffes

It is normally necessary for an injured person wishing to claim personal injury compensation to start Court proceedings in support of their claim within three years of the date of their accident. If they do not do so the claim will usually be lost, as it will have become statute barred because of the provisions of the Limitation Acts.

However, the Court of Appeal recently decided that when Judges are exercising their discretion whether or not to waive the three year time limit, they should not automatically regard the person or company responsible for causing the accident to be prejudiced by removing their ability to use the passage of time as a defence.

The Court decided that where the guilty party had no real defence to the claim, then to be able to use the “limitation” defence was a windfall. They concluded that the guilty party only deserved to have their obligation to pay damages removed if the passage of time had significantly undermined their ability to properly defend the claim.

COMMENT:-

It is not anticipated that there will be a flood of potential claimants seeking to take advantage of the Court of Appeal decision, as most claims are begun within the initial three year period.

However, in situations where this decision might apply it is likely that the insurers for the guilty party will try to suggest that they will be prejudiced and will fight to be able to use the limitation defence.

Nevertheless, if the facts of the accident are straightforward, eg where another vehicle ran into the back of your car and this caused you to suffer personal injury; you may still be able to make a successful claim for compensation more than three years later.

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM SOLICITORS:-

If you have suffered any form of accident or have contracted an industrial disease or illness, contact personal injury specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors for immediate legal advice, to find out if you are entitled to make claims for injury compensation. All cases are dealt with on a No Win - No Fee basis, where the successful Client keeps 100% of the compensation recovered.

Call now on 0800 138 1348 to speak direct to a personal injury lawyer or go to our Start Your Claim Now page to submit details of your personal injury claim online.