Defamation proceedings generally to be commenced within 1 year
37 Defamation proceedings generally to be commenced within 1 year
An action on a cause of action for defamation is not maintainable if brought after the end of a limitation period of 1 year running from the date of the publication of the matter complained of.
The 1 year limitation period referred to in subsection (1) is taken to have been extended as provided by subsection (3) if a concerns notice is given to the proposed defendant on a day (the notice day) within the period of 56 days before the limitation period expires.
The limitation period is extended for an additional period of
56 days minus any days remaining after the notice day until the
1 year limitation period expires. ExampleAssume a concerns notice is given 7 days before the limitation period expires. This means that there are 6 days left after the notice day before the period expires. Consequently, this subsection would operate to extend the limitation period by 56 minus 6 days, that is,
50 days.
In this section—
concerns notice has the same meaning as in the
Defamation
Act 2005;
date of publication, in relation to the publication of matter in electronic form, means the day on which the matter was first uploaded for access or sent electronically to a recipient.
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