Whether claim was time-barred — breach of contract — tort of negligence — application to strike out — Limitation Act 1950, s 4 — Thom v Davys Burton [2008] NZSC 65. The defendant applied to strike out the plaintiffs' claim for loss following the defendant's failure to obtain a code compliance certificate for building work. The issue under the Limitation Act was when the "cause of action accrued" under contract and tort law. The contractual cause of action was time-barred because the cause of action accrued in 2003 when all the facts existed to support a claim for breach of contract. However, the plaintiffs' claim in tort was not struck out because the tortious cause of action accrued when the plaintiffs first sustained loss attributable to the breach ("Thom"). This occurred in 2009 when a prospective purchaser withdrew from an agreement to purchase the property due to lack of code compliance certificate. The Judge found this case to be of exposure to a contingent liability and not a "damaged asset case". Judgment Date: 8 July 2016.