The High Court has rejected a defendant’s application to dismiss a personal injury claim as statute-barred, finding that the evidence did not establish that the claimant’s application to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board was out of time.
The ruling, delivered by Ms Justice Dunne on 26 November 2008, concerned a claim arising from injuries allegedly suffered while the plaintiff was crossing a road. The judgment gives conflicting dates for the alleged accident: 10 November 2004 in its opening account and 4 December 2004 later. The judge said the dispute over the date did not affect this application.
The plaintiff issued a personal injuries summons on 5 December 2007. The defendant sought its dismissal, arguing that the applicable limitation deadline was 30 March 2007 and that the Board received the application on 2 April 2007. The Board issued authorisation to proceed on 4 July 2007.
The plaintiff’s position was that the application had been sent by prepaid registered post on 29 March 2007 and would have arrived in the ordinary course of post on 30 March, within the deadline. The defendant relied on the Board’s 2 April date stamp. The judgment records that there was no dispute that, for the claim to avoid the limitation bar, the application had to be made by 30 March.
The court considered the statutory limitation provisions, the rules governing applications to the Board, and the Interpretation Act 2005 provision on documents served by post. It noted that nothing in the papers indicated the application had not been delivered in the ordinary course of post, and that 30 March 2007 was a Friday, followed by a weekend before the Board’s recorded receipt on Monday, 2 April.
Justice Dunne said the Board’s administrative date stamp could not displace the statutory limitation provisions. She was not satisfied that the plaintiff was statute-barred. The ruling addresses the defendant’s dismissal application; the judgment does not determine the underlying personal injury claim.