Associations Advocate Reduction of Ultimate Limitation Period
BC’s 30-year ultimate limitation period should be reduced to 10 years, according to a position paper recently released by APEGBC, the Architectural Institute of BC (AIBC), the Consulting Engineers of British Columbia (CEBC), and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC). The paper was submitted to the provincial government for its consideration.
The ultimate limitation period (ULP) is a part of the Limitation Act, which governs the law on limitation of civil actions in BC. It sets the maximum time limit within which claims must be brought before the courts. The 30-year ULP was introduced in 1975 during the last major revision of the Limitation Act.
The position of APEGBC, AIBC, CEBC and ICABC is that the 30-year ULP does not provide effective administration of justice for either their members or for society as a whole. The paper notes that over a period of 30 years, changes in professional standards, development of new technologies and the evolution of social values make fair assessment of a professional’s actions difficult. In particular, the passage of time further complicates the administration of justice, as evidence needed to prove or disprove a claim can deteriorate, written records can become lost or destroyed, and the memories of witnesses either fade or the witnesses themselves are no longer available.
Consistency with other jurisdictions and with other provincial legislation is identified in the paper as a key consideration for reducing the ULP from 30 to 10 years. In the last 10 years, Alberta has adopted a 10-year ULP, and Ontario and Saskatchewan, a 15-year ULP. Furthermore, under BC’s Homeowner Protection Act, which creates a mandatory minimum warranty protection on residential construction, developers and builders have no further financial obligation to the homeowner after 10 years.
Other considerations for legislative reform with regards to BC’s ULP are developments in case law, and economic implications. The latter are derived directly from the potential of a claim against a professional 30 years after services have been provided, causing firms, individual engineers, accountants and architects to undertake the expense of maintaining liability insurance into retirement.
There has been support for the reduction of the limitation period, including a legal opinion produced by the office of BC’s Attorney General as early as 1988 advocating a 10-year ULP, and similar recommendations from the Law Reform Commission of British Columbia in 1990, and its successor organization, the British Columbia Law Institute in 2002.
The full position paper is available at www.apeg.bc.ca/library/library/ULP_Position_Paper.pdf.