Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitation of Actions in Conversion and Detinue

This week, the Manitoba Law Reform Commission released its report on Limitations of Actions in Conversion and Detinue.

From the Executive Summary:

"This report originates from the Manitoba Law Reform Commission's Limitations report published in October, 2010. In the Limitations report, the Commission recommends the adoption of a basic two-year limitation period for all claims running from the date of discovery, and a 15-year ultimate limitation period running from the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based took place. The Commission deferred making recommendations in respect of actions in conversion and detinue with the intention of issuing a separate report on that subject."

"Conversion and detinue are torts which protect a person's possessory interests in personal property against wrongful interference. The torts' characteristics give rise to unique concerns in respect of limitations. This report examines the specific problems associated with limitations of actions in conversion and detinue, including: successive transactions, the protection of good faith purchasers of converted or detained goods from ongoing liability; the effect of the expiry of a limitation period on title to converted or detained goods; limitations and theft-related conversions; and, limitations and concurrent actions in conversion and detinue."

"The report reviews and analyzes recent law reform initiatives in respect of limitations of actions in conversion and detinue, and makes recommendations for specific provisions in a new Limitations Act to deal with these types of claims. The Commission's recommendations include a provision that the ultimate limitation period should run from the first date the personal property is converted or detained; a provision for a good faith purchaser exception to the ultimate limitation period; and a provision extinguishing title to converted or detained goods at the expiry of the ultimate limitation period. The Commission concludes that special statutory rules are not required to address theft-related conversions or concurrent actions in conversion and detinue."

"With this report, the Commission completes its work in respect of a modern Limitations Act for Manitoba."

The report examines the rules in a number of other Canadian provinces and in the UK (briefly).

Earlier Library Boy posts on limitations include:

• Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations of Actions (July 5, 2009): "The Manitoba Law Reform Commission recently published a Draft Report for Consultation on the province's Limitations of Actions Act: (...) 'The Limitation of Actions Act was originally enacted in 1931. Although amended three times since then (in 1967, 1980, and 2002) it is fundamentally based on an amalgam of limitations provisions that originated in England centuries ago. In other words, it is highly dated, and it is showing its age. The Act badly requires modernization, and in this report the Commission has identified what it sees as the primary areas requiring modernization, as well as the best ways of accomplishing that goal. In light of the work that has been done in recent years in other Canadian jurisdictions, the Commission sees no need to reinvent this wheel. For the most part, in this report we have described the structure of the 'modern' limitations regimes found in other jurisdictions, and analyzed whether they are suitable for Manitoba and how, if at all, they ought to be adapted for Manitoba’s conditions'. "
• British Columbia White Paper on Limitation Act Reform (September 17, 2010): "The government of British Columbia has published a White Paper aimed at reforming the province's Limitation Act (...) Among the major recommendations in the White paper: moving from a variety of basic limitation periods to a single two-year basic limitation period for all civil claims ; eliminating the special six-year ultimate limitation period for negligence claims against doctors, hospitals and hospital employees. All lawsuits will be governed by a single ultimate limitation period of either 10 or 15 years"
• Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations (October 30, 2010): "The most important proposal is for the abolition of the various categories of claims set out in the current Act, and their replacement with a single, basic two year limitation applicable to all claims unless they are otherwise dealt with."