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Category: Personal Injury


Published: 06 April 2020

The Rules of Timebar

Are there time limits on my personal injury claim?

“Are there time limits on my personal injury claim?” is perhaps the question our personal injury lawyers are most asked by new clients.

In Scotland, the general rule for personal injury actions is that they must be either settled extrajudicially or raised in court within three years from the date when the loss, injury or damage occurred, or within three years from when you reasonably became aware of the loss, injury or damage.

Like everything, there are exceptions to the rule. If you are making a claim for a personal injury sustained at sea or on a plane, the time limit is two years. Likewise, you have two years to claim compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority if you have been the innocent victim of a violent crime.

If you were under the age of sixteen when the date of the loss, injury or damage occurred, the three-year time period will kick-in on the date of your sixteenth birthday. If the claim is for criminal injuries compensation, the time period will instead run from the date of your eighteenth birthday.

Claims relating to a form of negligence, such as medical negligence, are slightly different. The time period will start to run from the ‘date of knowledge’, and not from the date of the alleged negligence. Essentially, the date of knowledge is the date when you are made aware that your injury is directly linked to the alleged negligence. This is important as the date of negligence and date of knowledge are not always one and the same. 

Personal Injury Lawyers Glasgow

The law in Scotland has undergone some major changes with the relatively recent introduction of the Limitation (Childhood Abuse) (Scotland) Act 2017. The three-year timebar on claiming damages no longer applies to claims involving historic child abuse occurring on or after 26 September 1964. The term ‘abuse’ includes sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, as well as neglect in the form of abuse. For the purposes of the 2017 Act, a child is an individual under the age of 18.

In certain circumstances, the 2017 Act also allows for cases that have previously been raised to be raised again. Cases of this nature can be re-raised if the original action failed due to timebar, or if a relevant settlement was reached. These exceptions will not apply if the Defender can demonstrate that they will be unfairly prejudiced if the action is allowed to be re-raised.

Contact our personal injury lawyers in Glasgow today

Given the various exceptions to the various rules, it is important that you seek expert legal advice at the earliest opportunity.

If you think you have a personal injury claim which does not fall foul of time bar, please contact our personal injury lawyers on 0141 429 8166 or complete our online contact form.   

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