David Dabbs watches statutory time limits passing by
Every good litigator ensures that all causes of action available to the (correct) client are pleaded out and incorporated within the statement of case before the limitation period expires: for the court’s residual discretion to permit an amendment after the expiry of a critical limitation period (CPR Pt 17, r 4) is severely restricted. Once the statutory time limit has expired the court has no discretion to permit an amendment which has the effect of adding a new cause of action or adding/swapping a party who may have known enough to appreciate that he had a cause of action during the limitation period, but let it pass (Limitation Act 1980, s 35). An attempt to amend after expiry would likely be an abuse of process and struck out [CPR Pt 3.4(2)(b)]—a classic case of trying to shut the door after the horse has bolted.
Exception
The trouble is, every litigator also knows that there is usually at least one exception to every rule; and that
