LIMITATION OF ACTIONS ACT 1974 - SECT 40
Contribution between tortfeasors
LIMITATION OF ACTIONS ACT 1974 - SECT 40
Contribution between tortfeasors
40 Contribution between tortfeasors
(1) An action for contribution under the Law Reform Act 1995, section 6(c)
shall not be brought after the expiration of the first of the following
periods to expire—
(a) a period of limitation of 2 years running from the
date on which the right of action for contribution first accrues to the
plaintiff or to a person through whom the plaintiff claims;
(2) For the purposes of
subsection (1) (a) , the date on which a right of action for contribution
first accrues is—
(a) if the plaintiff in the action for contribution or a
person through whom the plaintiff claims is liable in respect of the damage
for which contribution is claimed by judgment in a civil action or by arbitral
award—the date on which the judgment is given or the award made whether or
not in the case of a judgment the judgment is afterwards varied as to quantum
of damages; or
(b) if, in a case to which paragraph (a) does not apply, the
plaintiff in the action for contribution or a person through whom the
plaintiff claims makes an agreement with a person having a right of action for
the damage for which the right of action for contribution arises, which
agreement fixes, as between the parties to the agreement, the amount of the
liability in respect of that damage of the plaintiff in the action for
contribution or a person through whom the plaintiff claims—the date on which
the agreement is made.
(3) In subsection (1) (b) —
"the period of limitation for the principal action" means the period of
limitation prescribed by this Act or by any other enactment (including an
enactment repealed by this Act) for the action for the liability in respect of
which contribution is sought.
