The High Court dismissed a motion to strike out Francis Healy’s personal injury claim as statute-barred, finding that his application to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board was made before the limitation period expired.
The claim arises from a road traffic accident in Limerick City on 24 November 2010. Healy alleges that his stationary vehicle was struck from behind by a car driven by Caroline Noonan, causing personal injuries. The judgment records that both parties agreed the accident occurred on that date.
Healy submitted an application to the Board on 12 November 2012. The form gave the accident date as 30 September 2010, while his GP’s report recorded both dates. The Board asked him to confirm the correct date and return an incomplete form. He resubmitted the form on 20 November, correcting the accident date, but the Board later identified another issue: the form’s final page had not been properly dated. It raised that issue in a letter sent after the limitation period expired on 24 November 2012.
The defendant argued that the claim was out of time because the Board had not acknowledged a correctly completed application within the limitation period. She also argued that the Board’s authorisation, which gave the wrong accident date, did not permit proceedings over the November accident.
The plaintiff said he had made the application in time and that the date on the authorisation was a Board error that could be corrected. The court considered earlier High Court decisions addressing the effect of the Board’s administrative requirements on limitation periods. It said those rules must be applied consistently with a claimant’s constitutional right of access to court.
Justice Noonan concluded that the application was made for the purposes of the relevant legislation on 20 November 2012, when the Board received the corrected form. The judgment noted that the Board had pointed out the date discrepancy but had not raised the dating issue until after the limitation period, although it could have done so earlier.
The judge also found that the incorrect accident date on the Board’s authorisation was a manifest error. If necessary, it could be remedied by issuing an amended authorisation. The court did not determine the underlying personal injury claim; it dismissed the defendant’s motion to have that claim struck out as statute-barred.