Is it possible to sue a Government Benefits Tribunal for libel?

Question

I suffer PTSD as a result of an incident of workplace bullying, which amounted to deliberate psychological torture. As a consequence I am unable to work.

In 2 years I have made 4 benefit applications, all of which have been refused, basically because the people deciding the application are not competent to understand psychopathological evidence.

Their latest "judgement" insinuates that:
1) the report of a specialist - stating a) that I suffer PTSD and b) that the PTSD was caused by the incident - is not genuine. This despite the report containing the contact details of the therapist who conducted the examination & drafted the original report. They have not bothered to check this out, but have merely their opinion that the report is not genuine & by insinuation that I am a liar.
2) they refer to me as mentally ill. There is a difference between illness & injury.

I suffer financially as a result of their written & signed opinion. Could I successfully sue them for Libel?

Answer 1

No it's not. Anything said by anyone in a judicial tribunal attracts "absolute privilege" from being sued for libel or slander.

To quote Halsbury's Laws:

"No action lies, whether against judges, counsel, jury, witnesses or parties, for words spoken in the ordinary course of any proceedings before any court or judicial tribunal recognised by law. The evidence of all witnesses or parties speaking with reference to the matter before the court is privileged, whether oral or written, relevant or irrelevant, malicious or not. The privilege extends to documents properly used and regularly prepared for use in the proceedings. Advocates, judges and juries are covered by this privilege. However, a statement will not be protected if it is not uttered for the purposes of judicial proceedings by someone who has a duty to make statements in the course of the proceedings."

All you can do is appeal and hope the next level of tribunal finds in your favour. It certainly sounds wrong to dismiss an expert's report out of hand.

Answer 2

what your best course will be is thru the ombudsman and appeal against the decision.You are suffering from a disability if a medical doctor says so ,as they are not who are they to say otherwise.You can take them to court , but I dont think you can get legal aid for libel , check with a solicitor . From what you have said they are infringing your human rights.

Answer 3

Get Real -- You can sue anyone for anything -- but it doesn,t mean you will WIN -- I suppose you are one the army of "Legal Aid" Merchants ????

Answer 4

PTSD is a mental illness as defined by DSM-IV. Since DSM-IV is the 'bible' for diagnosing mental ilnesses ...

http://www.bullyonline.org/stress/ptsd.htm

:-((