The limitation period in terms of claims involving fatal accidents is normally 3 years from the date of death. After this point the claim will normally be statute-barred, meaning that the claim can no longer be brought. The purpose of this is to protect individuals from being subjected to claims a considerable time after they might reasonably have expected to have to defend the claim.
However, there may be circumstances in which a claim can be brought outside of that limitation period. A good example would be if the person bringing the compensation claim was a minor at the date when the accident happened. The 3 year limitation period will not start to run in this case until the claiming party reaches the age of 18. This helps to protect children from any exploitation which they might be vulnerable to had they brought a claim at an earlier age, provided of course that they were a dependent of the deceased.
A further situation would be if the person looking to make the claim was deemed to be psychologically disabled from the date of the accident until the date of the death. This must have been the case for the entire period between these two dates, otherwise the limitation period would start from the period when they were psychologically able. Becoming psychologically disabled in this time period would unfortunately not mean that the limitation period stopped until the person claiming regained their psychological capacity.
Furthermore, the court also has a discretion under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, to extend the limitation period in special circumstances. It may be that as a dependent you can still bring a claim for the injury even if the limitation period has expired and if you think this might be the case you should contact The Injury Lawyers on 0800 634 7575 to get free advice on whether you could have a claim.
