The claimant had been found liable to pay damages for personal injury, and now sought contribution from the defendants. The defendants said that they were out of time since the contribution action had been commenced more than 2 years after the judgment.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The judgment had been for damages to be assessed. Those damages had been finally set less than two years before the action. ‘time does not begin to run until the quantum of the claimant tortfeasor’s liability has been ascertained either by judgment (or award) or agreement. In my judgment that is consistent with the language of section 10. Indeed the textual and background considerations support one another towards that conclusion.’
Judges:
Lord Justice Moore-Bick Lord Justice Rix Sir Anthony Clarke MR
Citations:
Times 23-Jan-2006, [2006] EWCA Civ 4
Links:
Statutes:
Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, Limitation Act 1980 10
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and others HL 25-Apr-2002
The claimants sought damages against the defendants for their late delivery of a building. The contractors sought to share the damages with the architects who had certified the delays, defeating their own claims.
Held: The Act sought to extend . .
Mentioned – Wolmershausen v Gullick 1893
Claim for contribution between co-securities. Wright J reviewed the development of the entitlement to contribution from Justinian’s statement of it, through its application by the custom of the City of London in the time of Queen Elizabeth to the . .
Mentioned – Post Office v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd CA 1967
A contract of insurance provided an indemnity for ‘all sums which the insured shall become legally liable to pay as compensation in respect of loss of property’. The claim was by the Post Office against a contractor, Potters, for damaging one of . .
Mentioned – Telfair Shipping Operation SA v Inersea Carriers SA, the Caroline P 1984
A claim was made in contract based on an indemnity.
Held: The claim was not time-barred. Time normally begins to run against a claim on a general indemnity only from the moment when the liability of the indemnified is accepted by him or . .
Mentioned – Bradley v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd HL 1989
Mrs Bradley was employed by Dart Mill several times from 1933 and 1970 and acquired byssinosis from inhaling cotton dust. The company was wound up in 1975 and dissolved in 1976. In 1984 she applied to the court for pre-action disclosure under . .
Cited – Wimpey (George) Co Ltd v British Overseas Airways Corporation HL 1954
A joint tortfeasor could escape liability in contribution proceedings if it had been unsuccessfully sued by the injured person in an action brought outside the relevant limitation period. Where a court has to decide between two competing cases, if . .
Cited – Ronex Properties v. John Laing Construction Ltd CA 1983
The court considered a claim for contribution between tortfeasors. Donaldson LJ said: ‘The starting point of this submission is that a cause of action for contribution, under the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors) Act 1935, arises at the . .
Cited – Harvey v R G O’Dell Ltd 1958
. .
Cited – Knight v Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust, the National Health Service Litigation Authority, The Secretary of State for Health QBD 23-Jul-2003
A contribution to a damages award was sought. The two year period under section 10 had expired between the anniversary of the date on which an agreement to settle the victim’s claim had been made and the anniversary of the consent order which had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Limitation
Updated: 04 July 2022; Ref: scu.237710