When Power Goes Wrong · Liability & Remedy Ledger · Part 12

Can limitation defeat a claim that is otherwise correct?

Yes. The Limitation Act creates time-based defences to money claims. A claimant can prove wrongdoing yet recover nothing or much less because the claim was filed too late or because only later loss falls within time.

Limitation is not a technical afterthought. It can be outcome-determinative.

For modern money claims, Limitation Act 2010 s 11 generally creates a six-year primary period from the act or omission. Where there is late knowledge, a three-year late-knowledge period can apply, subject to a 15-year longstop.

The knowledge test in s 14 is factual: when did the claimant know, or when ought they reasonably to have known, the relevant act or omission, attribution to the defendant, loss where required, and non-consent where relevant?

Daisley is the warning case.The 2026 Supreme Court decision shows how limitation analysis can survive all the way to the top court even where the public authority accepts negligence. The Court distinguished singular, episodic and continuing breaches and rejected an attempt to recover old loss simply because consequences continued.

Primary modern periodSix years for money claims under s 11, subject to statutory rules/exceptions.

Late knowledgeThree years after late-knowledge date.

LongstopGenerally 15 years for claims using the late-knowledge route.

Practical lessonRecord dates immediately: act, discovery, loss, concealment, complaints, decisions and every potential accrual event.

A good cause of action filed outside time can be worth nothing. Limitation analysis belongs at the beginning of the case, not the end.

Primary statuteLimitation Act 2010, ss 11 and 14.

Current Supreme CourtWhangarei District Council v Daisley [2026] NZSC 72.

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