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The ordinary time limit for defamation and malicious falsehood claims

A claimant must commence a claim for defamation within one year from the date on which the cause of action accrues, namely the date on which the defamatory statement is first published (section 4A of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), as inserted by section 5 of the Defamation Act 1996 (DeA 1996)).

It is irrelevant to the accrual of the cause of action in libel that the claimant was unaware of any publication at the time, and therefore the commencement of the limitation period for their claim.

In cases of most types of slander and malicious falsehood, the cause of action will accrue from the date on which financial damage is sustained by the claimant, and the limitation period may not be linked to the date of first publication. The day on which a cause of action for libel and slander accrues is excluded from the computation in arriving at the limitation period (ie day one of the ordinary year-long limitation period is the day after the publication).

Section 1 of the Defamation