The section 8 letter: one month to notify the wrongdoer

Within a month of an accident, the law asks you to write one letter. This guide sets out what section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 requires, what the letter says and what it should leave out, what happens if it is late, what reasonable cause means, how to serve it, and a provision that would change the section but has never been commenced.

What section 8 says

Section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 says that where a plaintiff in a personal injuries action fails, without reasonable cause, to serve a notice in writing, before the expiration of one month from the date of the cause of action, or as soon as practicable thereafter, on the wrongdoer or alleged wrongdoer stating the nature of the wrong alleged to have been committed by them, the court hearing the action shall draw such inferences from the failure as appear proper, and, where the interests of justice so require, may make no order as to the payment of costs to the plaintiff, or deduct such amount from the costs that would otherwise be payable to the plaintiff as it considers appropriate.

Three things follow from the words.

The notice is in writing, served on the wrongdoer, and states the nature of the wrong alleged. That is the whole of the content requirement.

The period is one month from the date of the cause of action, which is the later of the date the injury happened and the date of knowledge under section 2 of the 1991 Act. For an ordinary accident that is one month from the accident.

The consequence of a late notice falls on costs and inferences, not on the claim itself.

One month since 2019

The section originally said two months. The Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018 reduced it to one month from 28 January 2019. A great deal of guidance written before then, and some still online, says two months. For any accident since January 2019 the period is one month.

What the letter states

Section 8 asks for the nature of the wrong alleged. That means a sentence saying what happened and who you say is responsible for it: a collision in which the respondent's vehicle struck yours at a named place on a named date; a fall on a wet floor in the respondent's premises; an injury at work while using the respondent's equipment; an attack by the respondent's dog.

A letter that does that, with your name and address, the date and the place, and a line saying that it is served under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, meets the section.

What the letter does not do

The letter is not a claim. It does not start the Board's process, which begins only with an application on the Board's own form, as the making-a-claim page sets out. It does not stop the two-year clock; only a signed Board application does that, as the Board pause guide explains. It does not ask the other side to respond, and most do not, beyond an acknowledgement from an insurer.

It also does not need to persuade anyone. Everything you add beyond the statutory content is a statement that can be read back to you later. A letter that describes injuries in the first week describes them before they have settled; a letter that argues fault commits you to one account of what happened before you have the Garda abstract or the CCTV. The Act asks for less, and less is what an insurer should see from you at this stage.

The consequences of a late letter

A late or missing notice does not bar the claim. The section is about costs and inferences at the hearing of the action.

The court shall draw such inferences from the failure as appear proper. In practice the inference an insurer will invite is that the claim was not made in good time because it was not genuine, or that the respondent was deprived of the chance to investigate while the evidence was fresh.

Where the interests of justice require, the court may make no order as to the plaintiff's costs, or deduct from them. In a personal injury action costs usually follow the event, so a successful claimant usually recovers their legal costs from the respondent. Section 8 lets a court take some or all of that away because the notice was late.

Whether a court does so depends on the delay, the reason for it, and whether the respondent was in fact prejudiced. A respondent that was told of the accident the same day, by a Garda report or an accident book entry, will find it harder to show prejudice from a late letter. But the section applies, and the safe course is to send the letter in the month.

Reasonable cause, and as soon as practicable

The section has two softening phrases. The failure must be without reasonable cause, and the notice may be served as soon as practicable after the month.

Reasonable cause is for the court. An injury that kept you in hospital for the month, a date of knowledge that was later than the accident, or not knowing who the wrongdoer was until later are the kinds of reason the courts have accepted. Not knowing about section 8 is not, by itself, a reason the section recognises, which is why this guide exists.

If the month has passed, serve the notice now. A notice served late is served as soon as practicable only if it was served as soon as it could have been, so the delay between realising and sending matters.

Who to serve, and how

The section says the wrongdoer or alleged wrongdoer. That is the person or body you say committed the wrong: the other driver, the employer, the company that operates the shop, the local authority, the dog's owner. Where you know the insurer, send a copy to the insurer as well, but the statutory service is on the wrongdoer.

Where the wrongdoer is a company, address it to the company at its registered office. Where it is a local authority, address it to the council. Where it is an individual whose address you have from the scene or the Garda report, use that.

Serve it in a way you can prove. Registered post with the receipt kept, or email with a read receipt and a dated copy, is what most people use. Keep a copy of the letter and the proof of sending with the rest of the record.

Who the section does not apply to

Section 8 is read as deleted for Garda compensation claims under the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022, where the member applies to the Commissioner within six months instead. It applies to medical negligence actions for now, although the provision described next would change that.

Section 220: the amendment that has not been commenced

Section 220 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 would amend section 8 and exclude clinical negligence actions from it, alongside section 221, which would make the limitation period for clinical negligence three years. Neither section has been commenced at 14 October 2026. Until they are, section 8 reads as set out above and applies to every personal injuries action other than a Garda compensation claim. The changes page records any commencement.

The letter and the insurer

Once the letter arrives, the wrongdoer's insurer may contact you. The Central Bank's Consumer Protection Code requires an insurer dealing with a claimant to act honestly and fairly. The letter does not oblige you to give a statement, and a recorded statement is evidence. The insurer guide sets out what to say, and the time-limit guide places the month beside the two years.

Where this leaves you

You know what the letter must say, what it should not, who it goes to and by when. The letter builder writes the section 8 notice in the statutory terms from your own details, with square brackets where something is missing, and stores nothing.