Various Claimants v Bryn Alyn Community (Holdings) Ltd ((in Liquidation)) and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 12 February 2003 |
| Date | 12 February 2003 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Auld, Lord Justice Waller and Lord Justice Mantell.
Limitation - cases brought by adults for abuse when children - delay - Limitation Act 1980 Section 11 12 and 14 and 33 - Stubbings v Webb [1992] AC 498 at 506 and [1992] QB 197.
As a general rule of thumb, the longer the delay after the occurrence of matters giving rise to a cause of action, the more likely it was that the balance of prejudice would swing against allowing the action to proceed by disapplication of the limitation period.
In cases brought by adults arising from abuse they had undergone as children, the permissible delay in each case was likely to be highly sensitive to the prejudice it caused to the defence notwithstanding the good reasons of the claimant for its length.
If the date of knowledge test in section 14 of the Limitation Act 1980 was properly applied so as to provide a claimant with an extension of the period by reference to it, the weight to be given to his reasons for delay thereafter should, in normal circumstances be limited.
The Court of Appeal so held dismissing cross-appeals by the first and second defendants Bryn Alyn Community (Holdings) Ltd (in liquidation) and Royal Sun Alliance plc from a Mr Justice Connell on June 26, 2001.
The judge had (i) found the first defendant liable to 14 adult claimants who as children had suffered sexual and/or physical abuse while in the care of its children's homes in North Wales; (ii) dismissed the appeals of two of the claimants against the judge's dismissal of part of their claims as statute barred; (iii) allowed the appeal of one claimant on issues of liability and limitation in respect of deliberate assault by an employee of the first defendant, and (iv) save in two of the 14 cases, allowing appeals on quantum in whole or in part.
Section 14 of the 1980 Act provides:
"(1) In sections 11 and 12 of this Act references to a person's date of knowledge are references to the date on which he first had knowledge of the following facts (a) that the injury in question was significant…
"(2) For the purposes of this section an injury is significant if the person whose date of knowledge is in question would reasonably have considered it sufficiently serious to justify his instituting proceedings for damages against a defendant who did not dispute...
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