CIVIL PRACTICE – SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTION BY COVID – 19 REGULATIONS

CIVIL PRACTICE – SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTION BY COVID – 19 REGULATIONS

The Plaintiff launched a claim for payment of N$3 850 000.00 for injuries suffered resulting from the alleged failure by the defendant’s medical staff to execute their duties professionally and reasonably as can be expected from trained and qualified medical professionals. Defendant opposed the claim and raised a special plea of prescription.

It was specifically pleaded that the Covid – 19 Regulation – Suspension of Operation of Provisions of Certain Laws and Ancillary Matters Regulations’ under Proclamation 16 of 2020 suspended the Prescription Act period from 14:00 on 28 March 2020 to 23:59 on 17 April 2020 for 21 days which then dictates that the plaintiff’s cause of action should then have prescribed on or before 11^th of January 2021.

The Court had to consider whether or not the period of suspension of prescription was only from 28 March 2020 to 17 April 2020 defendant argued or whether it was from 28 March 2020 to 4 May 2020 as the plaintiff argued, and stated that:

1. Regulation 1 of Proclamation 16 of 2020 defined ‘period of lockdown’ as the period of lockdown referred to in Regulation 3 of the Regulation and includes the period of lockdown, commencing at 14:00 on 28 March and ending at 23:59 on 17 April 2020, that was imposed prior to the amendments to the Regulations.
2. Regulation 7 provides that ‘(1) despite anything to the contrary in the Prescription Act the running of prescription under any provision of that Act is deemed to be interrupted during the duration of the period of lockdown; (2) the computation of any time period or time limit or days required for the completion of any process or the doing of anything as contemplated in sub regulation (1), where interrupted by the period of lockdown, resumes after the expiry of the period of lockdown, and commences after the expiry of that period.’
3. In order to determine the period of days in which prescription was stayed under the Covid-19 regulations, the court needs to interpret specifically the intention of the legislature with regard to the lockdown period.
4. The legislature intended whichever period of lockdown, to also include the period of lockdown commencing at 14:00 on 28 March 2020 and ending at 23:59 on 17 April 2020, which was the position prior to the amendments to the regulations.
5. It is then also for this period that the operation of the Prescription Act, 1969 was suspended and as such totals to 38 days, if both the starting and ending days are included. The prescription period in respect of the current matter was therefore after the expiry of 3 years and 38 days from 12 December 2017, which takes the date of prescription to a few days after the claim was filed.

In the result, the special plea was dismissed.

Namibia Airports Company Limited v Menzies Aviation (Pty) Limited NAHCMD 11 Agust 2022