One of the most common and dangerous mistakes made in professional negligence litigation is misunderstanding how limitation works where a claimant discovers Solicitor negligence after the event.

I dealt with a serious injury case in which the claimant’s original claim was struck out due to the Solicitors’ negligence. There were persistent failures to comply with court directions. The claimant was not informed of the strikeout. The Solicitors appealed the decision, and the appeal hearing was listed after six months. They lost the appeal. The claimant was eventually informed of the strikeout eight months later, and so his date of knowledge was eight months after the strikeout. 

His new Solicitors assumed that the limitation ran for six years from the date of knowledge. They issued proceedings six years and seven months after the date on which the claim was struck out. This mistake was fatal.   

The Common Misunderstanding

Solicitors sometimes incorrectly conflate the primary six-year limitation period and the “date of knowledge” provisions under section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980. This can, ironically, result in a further professional negligence action! 

This misunderstanding is surprisingly common. In such cases, files are diarised incorrectly, limitation dates are calculated from “knowledge” instead of accrual, and consequently, proceedings are issued out of time.

The Correct Legal Position

In Professional Negligence Claims, the primary limitation period is generally six years from the date the cause of action accrued. In litigation negligence cases, this is usually the date the claimant first suffered measurable damage, commonly when the underlying claim became lost or materially impaired.

In our example:

• PI claim struck out: March 2020

• Claimant informed: November 2020

The primary limitation period will ordinarily expire in March 2026 and not in November 2026.

What About “Date of Knowledge”?

Section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980 provides a secondary limitation period of three years from the claimant’s date of knowledge, subject to a 15-year longstop. Section 14A is a fallback provision designed to assist claimants who discover negligence later. Accordingly, if the primary six-year period expires later than the three-year knowledge period, the primary period still applies.

Using the above example:

• Date of knowledge: November 2020

• Three years from knowledge: Nov 2023

• Six years from accrual/damage: March 2026

The operative limitation date is therefore March 2026 and not November 2026.

A mistaken assumption about “date of knowledge” can easily turn a viable negligence claim into a time-barred one.

Haroon Rashid is an experienced Serious Injury and Clinical Negligence Barrister, trusted in high-value complex work, acting for both claimants and defendants. If you have a Clinical Negligence case you need advice or advocacy for, call our Civil Clerks, Michael Jones or Alessandro Saporita-Clark on 0161 832 4036, email Mike@kenworthys.co.uk or Alessandro@kenworthys.co.uk.

Image by Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay.