April 2006 saw a senior judge throw a case out of court due to failure to it being filed beyond the deadline. A dyslexic Liverpool man who says that the educational system failed him as a child and was forgotten has lost his damages claim.

Richard Smith, who has the literacy skills of a 7-year-old, sought £500,000 in damages due to complete failure at the hands of the schools, but because his claim was not filed within the three-year limitation, it was dismissed.

The senior judge had been asked to rule on whether the man has actually suffered injury and if he had been aware of it and the cause before January 4, 1999. After reviewing the claim, the judge stated that the man had been illiterate since childhood and had known prior to the three-year limitation that the probable cause was dyslexia. Furthermore the judge stated that testing which Smith received by an educational psychologist in 1987 assessed the problem to be with himself and not usual to the general population.

His case was dismissed on grounds that since he had knowledge of his condition prior to the three-year limitation litigants normally have to file a claim from the date of knowledge of suffering such an injury or trauma.

Mr Smith's counsel, Nicholas Bowen, had said that he was of above average intelligence and without any other disability when he was removed from mainstream school at the age of eight because of his literacy problems. He was placed in the special school system where he stayed until he was 16 with his learning difficulties neither identified nor treated. His fellow pupils were mainly children with Downs Syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, physical difficulties or serious cognitive problems. Now a student of art and design at Liverpool Hope University, Mr Smith, of Adcote Road, Dovecot, is still functionally illiterate with skills equivalent to those of an average six or seven-year-old. "Richard Smith plainly fell through the cracks in the system and unfortunately for him, he was taken out of mainstream, never returned and henceforth forgotten", said counsel.

Smith's case against Hampshire County Council and Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, hinged on the statement that he had been disabled by the education system itself. Smith's council argued that he was "grossly misplaced" by Hampshire for his education between eight and 15 and that, when he moved to Knowsley, that authority missed the opportunity to keep him in education until he was 19 and make good the damage.

The defendants, who denied liability, argued that Mr Smith knew of his condition earlier and that his claim, which was begun in January 2002, was brought outside the legal time limit and should not be allowed to proceed.

Mr Smith maintains that he did not know he was dyslexic until January 1999 and did not become aware that he might have a claim until about February 2001 when his mother drew a newspaper article to his attention. His attorney contends that the man's date of knowledge was well within the three-year limit and plans to file an appeal to overturn the ruling.