Hansard

I think that I agree with Mr Lindhurst, Presiding Officer. You can see why his catchphrase is a dry pause. [Laughter.] This Scottish Law Commission bill aims to amend the law relating to the extinction of civil rights and obligations by the passage of time. [Interruption.] Is Mr Lindhurst okay back there?

The bill concerns only negative prescription, which is the time limit within which a person who is aggrieved must raise their claim in court. If the time limit is missed, the ability to pursue the claim is lost. The bill would amend the current law found in the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, which says that some legal obligations are affected by five-year prescription, some are affected by only 20-year prescription and some are never brought to an end by prescription. In other words, there are some cases where people have five years in which to take action and others where they have 20 years. It is important that the right balance is struck.

Most of the bill is not controversial. As we have already heard about and debated the areas that are, I do not propose to go over them again. However, I want to give the chamber another example of why the bill is so important—and it is not related to council tax or benefits. I am talking about the case of Morrison v ICL Plastics. It stemmed from the tragic explosion at the Stockline plastics factory in Glasgow in May 2004, in which nine employees were killed and many were left seriously injured. The case centred on a nearby business, David T Morrison and Co. It had suffered significant damage from the explosion, and when it sued ICL Plastics, which owned Stockline, for its loss, ICL defended the claim on the basis that it had already prescribed. In essence, Mr Morrison was told that he was too late to receive justice.

The case revolved around the interpretation of the existing legislation and the start date of the loss, injury or damage. Morrison believed that the start date was in 2013, when it found out that the explosion was ICL’s fault; however, ICL argued that the start date was in 2004, when Morrison’s had initially suffered the loss, and the Supreme Court found in favour of ICL by a majority of three to two. Because it allows the pursuer to know who caused the loss before the prescription period begins, the bill will mean that, in the future, people like David Morrison who are trying to seek recompense for damage that they have suffered due to negligence will not be told that it is too late. That is a welcome change to the law, and we therefore support the bill.