Description
Correct Approach to Limitation in Sexual Abuse Cases: The Lords allowed the appeals of six appellants who had been victims of sexual abuse during childhood and whose claims had been adjudged to be statute barred. It was held that the test under section 14 of the Limitation Act 1980 was an entirely impersonal one; once it was established what the claimant knew and what they could be treated as having known, the actual claimant effectively dropped out the picture. The decision in Stubbings v. Webb (1993) was departed from; it was observed that unsatisfactory House of Lords decisions are invariably distinguished by lower courts on inadequate grounds.
