A further limitation decision which is good news for
professionals and their insurers has recently been made. The Court
of Appeal in Lane v Cullens Solicitors &
Others has again declined to follow Law Society v
Sephton, which was a landmark decision in 2006 that
delayed the commencement of the limitation period in a professional
negligence claim.
Legal background
The six-year primary limitation period in tort is six years from
the date that actual, rather than prospective, damage was suffered.
There have been a number of key cases on the question of when
damage was suffered, the most well known of which is Law
Society v Sephton.
In Sephton the Law Society was required to
compensate clients affected by the negligence of a reporting
accountant in failing to spot that a solicitor was misappropriating
client funds during his examination of the firm's accounts. The
House of Lords found that actual damage was only suffered when a
defrauded client first presented the
