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Limitation (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 14/1992

Read the first time on 27th February 1992.

An Act to amend the Limitation Act (Chapter 163 of the 1985 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Limitation (Amendment) Act 1992 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 6

2. Section 6 of the Limitation Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting subsections (4) and (5); and
(b)	by renumbering subsections (6), (7) and (8) as subsections (4), (5) and (6), respectively.

Amendment of section 24

3. Section 24(1) of the Limitation Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “section 6(4)” in paragraph (b) and substituting the words “section 24A(2)”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “section 6(6)” in paragraph (c) and substituting the words “section 6(4)”.

New sections 24A, 24B and 24C

4. The Limitation Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 24, the following sections:

“Time limits for negligence, nuisance and breach of duty actions in respect of latent injuries and damage

24A.—(1) This section shall apply to any action for damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract or of a provision made by or under any written law or independently of any contract or any such provision).

(2) An action to which this section applies, where the damages claimed consist of or include damages in respect of personal injuries to the plaintiff or any other person, shall not be brought after the expiration of —

(a)	3 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued; or
(b)	3 years from the earliest date on which the plaintiff has the knowledge required for bringing an action for damages in respect of the relevant injury, if that period expires later than the period mentioned in paragraph (a).

(3) An action to which this section applies, other than one referred to in subsection (2), shall not be brought after the expiration of the period of either —

(a)	6 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued; or
(b)	3 years from the earliest date on which the plaintiff or any person in whom the cause of action was vested before him first had both the knowledge required for bringing an action for damages in respect of the relevant damage and a right to bring such an action, if that period expires later than the period mentioned in paragraph (a).

(4) In subsections (2) and (3), the knowledge required for bringing an action for damages in respect of the relevant injury or damage (as the case may be) means knowledge —

(a)	that the injury or damage was attributable in whole or in part to the act or omission which is alleged to constitute negligence, nuisance or breach of duty;
(b)	of the identity of the defendant;
(c)	if it is alleged that the act or omission was that of a person other than the defendant, of the identity of that person and the additional facts supporting the bringing of an action against the defendant; and
(d)	of material facts about the injury or damage which would lead a reasonable person who had suffered such injury or damage to consider it sufficiently serious to justify his instituting proceedings for damages against a defendant who did not dispute liability and was able to satisfy a judgment.

(5) Knowledge that any acts or omissions did or did not, as a matter of law, involve negligence, nuisance or breach of duty is irrelevant for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3).

(6) For the purposes of this section, a person’s knowledge includes knowledge which he might reasonably have been expected to acquire —

(a)	from facts observable or ascertainable by him; or
(b)	from facts ascertainable by him with the help of appropriate expert advice which it is reasonable for him to seek,

but a person shall not be taken by virtue of this subsection to have knowledge of a fact ascertainable only with the help of expert advice so long as he has taken all reasonable steps to obtain (and, where appropriate, to act on) that advice.

Overriding time limit for negligence, nuisance and breach of duty actions involving latent injuries and damage

24B.—(1) An action for damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty to which section 24A applies shall not be brought after the expiration of 15 years from the starting date.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), “starting date” means the date (or, if more than one, from the last of the dates) on which there occurred any act or omission —

(a)	which is alleged to constitute negligence, nuisance or breach of duty; and
(b)	to which the injury or damage in respect of which damages are claimed is alleged to be attributable (in whole or in part).

(3) This section bars the right of action in a case to which subsection (1) applies notwithstanding that the cause of action has not yet accrued before the end of the period of limitation prescribed by this section.

Transitional provisions relating to section 24A

24C.—(1) Nothing in section 24A shall —

(a)	enable any action to be brought which was barred by this Act immediately before the commencement of the Limitation (Amendment) Act 1992; or
(b)	affect any action commenced before the Limitation (Amendment) Act 1992 comes into force.

(2) Subject to subsection (1), sections 24A and 24B shall have effect in relation to causes of action accruing before, as well as after, the Limitation (Amendment) Act 1992 comes into force.”.