Personal injury limitation periods explained

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Russell-Cooke
1 min Read

What is a limitation period?

The personal injury and medical negligence team discusses the time limits that apply when bringing claims for catastrophic injuries and clinical negligence. This is known as the limitation period.

Limitation in medical negligence and catastrophic injury cases is a crucial deadline. It is the date by which the claim needs to be issued at court to stop the claim from being out of time. Limitation is always fact dependent and is one of the first things that your lawyer would try to pin point.

The starting point for limitation in most cases is 3 years from the date of incident, this is particularly true with for example a catastrophic road collision, where it will be clear from that day that the injuries are significant and have been caused by the incident. Unless there are other considerations the limitation will be the 3 year anniversary of that collision.

Exceptions to the standard limitation period

The following video details the exceptions to the standard limitation period:

  • Date of Knowledge (1:08)

  • Claims for children (1:56)

  • The Claimant has died (2:21)

  • Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (2:52)

  • Human Rights Act claims (3:29)

  • Claimant’s lack of capacity (3:52)

  • International time limits (4:22)

  • How do make a personal injury or clinical negligence claim (4:46)

So if think you may be anywhere near a limitation date it is worth seeking legal advice. Even if limitation is some time off, it is always better to approach a lawyer in plenty of time as the necessary investigations to establish whether there is a viable claim can take some time.

Get in touch

If you would like to speak with a member of the team you can contact our personal injury law solicitors by email, by telephone on +44 (0)20 3826 7517 or complete our enquiry form below.

Video Personal injury and medical negligence Limitation periods personal injury law medical negligence Personal injury claims medical negligence claims