Time limits
The law states that court proceedings have to be issued within a certain time known as the limitation period. The time limits are strict and set out in the Limitation Act 1980.
If you do not comply with the limitation period that applies to your claim, you are likely to lose for ever the chance to make your claim.
All negligence claims are subject to time limits and it is therefore important that you do not delay in making your claim as soon as you know that something has gone wrong.
In most solicitors' negligence and other professional negligence claims, you have 6 years to issue court proceedings. Limitation is extremely complicated and mistakes by solicitors about time limits give rise to a large number of claims. As a general rule, the 6 year period starts running from the date that your solicitor, or other professional, was negligent, or the date you suffered loss. For example, if your negligent solicitor failed to issue court proceedings in your Personal Injury claim within the 3 year time limit, the 6 year period within which to issue court proceedings against your solicitor will start from the deadline that your solicitor failed to meet. You would therefore have until 9 years from the date of your original accident to issue proceedings against your negligent Personal Injury solicitor.
However, if you can show that you were not aware that your professional adviser had been negligent until after the date of negligence, you may be entitled to more time and will usually be allowed to issue your claim up to 3 years from the date you found out, or of course, 6 years from the date of the negligence, whichever is the later. Furthermore, in some extreme cases, if the negligence was deliberately concealed from you, the full 6 year limitation period will only run from the date you found out.
It is not always easy to calculate limitation periods, particularly in professional negligence claims, and it is, therefore, important that you obtain prompt legal advice as soon as you discover that you may have a negligence claim.