Fletcher V Containerbase (Manchester) Ltd (2003)

The judge had not erred in the exercise of his discretion under s.33 Limitation Act 1980 to allow a personal injury claim to be brought out of time.

Civil Procedure - Limitation - Personal Injury

CA (Schiemann LJ, Sedley LJ, Jacob LJ) 31/10/2003

LTL 31/10/2003 EXTEMPORE (Unreported elsewhere)

Document No.: AC9607025

The judge had not erred in the exercise of his discretion under s.33 Limitation Act 1980 to allow a personal injury claim to be brought out of time.

Appeal by the defendant from the decision of Holman J of 2 July 2003 in which he exercised his discretion under s.33 Limitation Act 1980 and allowed the claimant to bring a claim for personal injuries out of time. The claimant worked for the defendant from 1977 until 1981. The claimant's employment involved him working with hazardous chemicals. The claimant subsequently developed cancer of the bladder.

The claimant was aware of a possible link between his cancer and his previous employment. The claimant did not bring a claim until 2002 by when two other employees of the defendant had been diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. On 2 July 2003 in his determination of whether to allow the claim to be brought Holman J found that the defendant was aware of the possible cause of his injury in 1995. He decided to exercise his discretion under s.33 of the Act as it was equitable to allow the claim to be brought. The judge decided that it was fair to allow the claim as it was fundamentally based upon the occurrence of a "cluster" of cancers. The defendant's ability to defend that claim was not effected by the passage of time. The defendant appealed.

HELD: The judge had gone through all the various facts and issues involved in the case. He had in particular looked at the position of the defendant in 1998 when a claim should have been brought and the position of the defendant in 2002 when a claim was brought. The judge's decision therefore was not unreasonable and should not be overturned.

Appeal dismissed.