Cases - Campbell v Meacocks

Record details

Name

Campbell v Meacocks

Date

[1995]

Citation

EGCS 143, CA

Legislation

Limitation Act 1980

Keywords

Negligence in valuations and surveys

Summary

In 1984 the claimants purchased a semi-detached bungalow, after seeing the report submitted to the mortgage lender by the defendant valuer. In 1986 the claimants received a letter from loss adjusters acting for the insurers of the other half of the property, which made it clear that that part had suffered damage from subsidence. However, it was only in 1991 that the claimants were told specifically by a structural engineer that their property was also affected. In 1992 the claimants issued proceedings against the defendant, alleging that he had negligently failed to discover the subsidence. The Court of Appeal, on a preliminary issue, held that the claim was not statute-barred; what the claimants had been told about the adjoining property was not enough to fix them with knowledge of 'material facts' about their own damage and to start the 3-year period.