Moss v Amaca Pty Ltd; Hannell v Amaca Pty Ltd

The High Court of Australia considered appeals from the Supreme Court of New South Wales in *Moss v Amaca Pty Ltd* and *Hannell v Amaca Pty Ltd*. Both cases involved claims for damages for asbestos-related lung diseases brought by former employees of James Hardie & Asbestos Finance Pty Ltd (which later became Amaca Pty Ltd) against Amaca. The central dispute concerned the application of the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) and, specifically, whether the plaintiffs' claims were statute-barred.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the plaintiffs' causes of action accrued at the time of exposure to asbestos, or at the time they discovered, or ought to have discovered, their injuries. This question was critical to determining whether the relevant limitation periods had expired. A related issue was whether the common law rule that a cause of action accrues upon injury, regardless of knowledge, should be displaced by the specific wording of the Limitation Act.

The High Court held that the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) did not alter the common law rule that a cause of action accrues at the time of injury, not at the time of its discovery. The Court reasoned that the Act's language did not indicate an intention to depart from this established principle. Therefore, the plaintiffs' causes of action accrued at the time of their exposure to asbestos, and as the limitation periods had expired by the time the proceedings were commenced, their claims were statute-barred.

The appeals were dismissed.