LIMITATION OF ACTIONS ACT 1974 - SECT 38 Postponement in cases of fraud or mistake

LIMITATION OF ACTIONS ACT 1974 - SECT 38

38 Postponement in cases of fraud or mistake

(1) Where in an action for which a period of limitation is prescribed by this Act—

(a) the action is based upon the fraud of the defendant or the defendant’s agent or of a person through whom he or she claims or his or her agent; or

(b) the right of action is concealed by the fraud of a person referred to in paragraph (a) ; or

(c) the action is for relief from the consequences of mistake;

the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud or, as the case may be, mistake or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.

(2) Nothing in this section enables an action to be brought to recover or enforce a charge against or set aside a transaction affecting property that—

(a) in the case of fraud—has been purchased for valuable consideration by a person who was not a party to the fraud and did not at the time of the purchase know or have reason to believe that a fraud had been committed; or

(b) in the case of mistake—has been purchased for valuable consideration subsequently to the transaction in which the mistake was made by a person who did not know or have reason to believe that the mistake had been made.