Judge clarifies when six-year period for bringing vehicular crash lawsuits ends
Published:Wednesday | May 29, 2024 | 9:41 AM
Supreme Court Judge Andrea Thomas has made it clear that the six-year statute of limitations for bringing motor vehicle crash-related lawsuits ends on the anniversary of the incident.
Arlene Wint-Thorpe, a defendant had brought an application seeking to strike out a claim against her on the basis that it was statute-barred.
The claimant, Enid Harrow, had filed a claim against Wint-Thorpe on February 25, 2022 seeking damages in relation to an accident which took place at 10:30 a.m. on February 25, 2016.
An application was filed by the defendant who contended that the claim should be struck out because the limitation period ended at midnight on February 24, 2022.
The issue which arose for the judge to determine was whether the claim was in fact statute-barred and, as such, whether it should be struck out as an abuse of the process of the court.
Relying on the statute of limitation, lawyers for the defendant argued that at the time of the filing of the action, six years had passed since the cause of the action.
Lawyers for the claimant argued that time began to run for the purposes of the six-year limitation from February 25, 2016 to February 25, 2022.
The judge, after referring to several authorities, agreed with the submissions for the claimant and ruled on May 8 that the claim was in fact filed within the six-year limitation and the defendant had not established a basis for striking out.
The judge further ruled that the matter is to proceed to trial and ordered the defendant to pay the claimant's legal costs.
Attorneys-at-law Ashley Forsythe and Munroe Wisdom, instructed by Nunes Scholefield DeLeon & Co represented the defendant.
The claimant was represented by attorneys-at-law Trevor Cuff and Alexander Shaw, instructed by Cuff and Shaw.
-Barbara Gayle
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