(1)Section 651 of the M1Companies Act 1985 (power of court to declare dissolution of company void) is amended as follows.
(2)In subsection (1) omit the words “at any time within 2 years of the date of the dissolution”.
(3)After subsection (3) add—
“(4)Subject to the following provisions, an application under this section may not be made after the end of the period of two years from the date of the dissolution of the company.
(5)An application for the purpose of bringing proceedings against the company—
(a)for damages in respect of personal injuries (including any sum claimed by virtue of section 1(2)(c) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 (funeral expenses)), or
(b)for damages under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 or the Damages (Scotland) Act 1976,
may be made at any time; but no order shall be made on such an application if it appears to the court that the proceedings would fail by virtue of any enactment as to the time within which proceedings must be brought.
(6)Nothing in subsection (5) affects the power of the court on making an order under this section to direct that the period between the dissolution of the company and the making of the order shall not count for the purposes of any such enactment.
(7)In subsection (5)(a) “personal injuries” includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition.”.
(4)An application may be made under section 651(5) of the Companies Act 1985 as inserted by subsection (3) above (proceedings for damages for personal injury, &c.) in relation to a company dissolved before the commencement of this section notwithstanding that the time within which the dissolution might formerly have been declared void under that section had expired before commencement.
But no such application shall be made in relation to a company dissolved more than twenty years before the commencement of this section.
(5)Except as provided by subsection (4), the amendments made by this section do not apply in relation to a company which was dissolved more than two years before the commencement of this section.