Personal Injury
Under Scots law where a person is injured or their property is damaged as a result of the wrongful (e.g negligent) actions of another person or organisation he or she can, if relevant criteria are satisfied, raise an action in the civil courts for damages in respect of loss, injury and harm suffered.
Damages are a matter for the Courts to decide and it would be for individuals to seek their own legal advice on whether they had a case or not under the current law.
The current law reflects changes made in recent years by Acts of the Scottish Parliament, including:
A "Discount Rate" may be applied to awards of damages for personal injury, to avoid over-compensation. Section 1 of the Damages Act 1996 allows the Scottish Ministers to prescribe the Discount Rate for calculating the amount to be deducted from an award. The Discount Rate is currently 2.5%, following a decision taken in 2002. The background to that decision is given here.
In November 2010, the Minister for Community Safety announced that the Scottish Government was undertaking a review of the Discount Rate in Scotland. The Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs wrote in October 2011 to the Justice Committee, advising that a public consultation on the methodology for setting the Discount Rate will be carried out. A copy of that letter can be viewed here.
Defamation
Any individual can bring a defamation action to protect his or her reputation. Individuals who consider that a statement made about them is defamatory and may damage their reputation should seek their own legal advice. In principle, anyone who has made a false statement can be sued for defamation by the injured party.
It is a matter for the courts to decide whether the statement complained of is capable of bearing a defamatory meaning.
The Scottish Government consultation paper Defamation and the Deceased: Death of a Good Name has now closed. Responses are now available. In October 2011, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs wrote to the Public Petitions Committee advising of the outcome of the consultation. A copy of that letter can be viewed here.
Prescription and Limitation
The right to bring an action in the civil courts is subject to time limits, as set out in the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973.
As regards personal injury, the time limit in Scotland for bringing an action for compensation is essentially three years from gaining knowledge of the injury, though courts have discretion to allow an action to proceed after that period has elapsed if they think it would be equitable to do so.
In 2007 the Scottish Law Commission published a report on Personal Injury Actions: Limitation and Prescribed Claims (report 207). The Scottish Government has accepted their recommendations on prescribed (pre-1964) cases and is giving further consideration to other recommendations.
As regards other types of claim, the time limits set by the 1973 Act vary. For example, the time limit on taking action to claim money owed runs from 5 years to 20 years, depending upon the type of debt.