Prescription is the period of time during which a person can take legal action against another person to claim compensation for damage suffered. Once the prescription period has expired, it is no longer possible to take legal action against the person who caused the damage.
It is therefore particularly important to know the limitation period applicable to an action, and to be able to identify its starting point, at the risk of missing the opportunity to obtain damages.
There are several situations in which a liability claim can be made.
Here are a few recent concrete examples:
- An action against a chartered accountant who had made an error in drafting an employment contract, resulting in a loss of over €40,000 for the company,
- An action against a real estate agent who had rented out 21 apartments to destitute people, resulting in a loss of several hundred thousand euros,
- An action against a recruitment firm that had accepted an assignment it knew or should have known was not feasible, resulting in a loss of several thousand euros.
The general limitation period for contractual liability is 5 years(article 2224 of the French Civil Code).
In other words, this is the time limit within which you must take legal action to hold the person who caused you damage liable (and not the time limit within which the action must be completed).
This limitation period begins to run “from the day when the holder of a right knew or should have known the facts enabling him to exercise it”.
In concrete terms, in the case of our liability action against a chartered accountant, the statute of limitations begins to run from the Court of Appeal’s ruling making the company’s conviction final (Cass. Civ. 1ère, June 29, 2022, no. 21-10.720).
So, even though the mistake was made 8 years ago, and the Court of Appeal decision has just been handed down, the action is not time-barred.
ATTENTION: in certain areas, there are shorter limitation periods.
For example, the one-year statute of limitations applicable to transport law.
Also, be aware that a clause in your contract may reduce the limitation period, under certain conditions.
If you believe that you have suffered financial or moral damage as a result of a fault on the part of a third party (partner, customer, supplier, etc.), we can examine together whether it would be appropriate to take legal action to obtain compensation for this damage.
