Which law would my assessor have contravened?

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This discussion was created from comments split from: Introducing The Benefits Training Co.-Experts in disability benefits, tax credits and other benefits.

wildlife

Hi Can I ask Maria or Mary as solicitors. Which law would my assessor have contravened when describing something she said I did which I did not do in writing on her report. She said I took the label off a plastic water bottle whilst holding it between my knees using my right and left hand. This totally never happened. Is there any legal action I could take against her without risking it costing me money?

BenefitsTrainingCo

wildlife I'm not a solicitor so I'm going to leave this to my colleagues to consider (I think Maria is working tomorrow). To my limited knowledge it isn't libel or slander, and I am not even sure that it is malicious falsehood, but if it caused you damage, then possibly -  any further comment is best left to the solicitors.

wildlife

@BenefitsTrainingCo It caused me damage in stress related Occular Migraines I suffered over the week following receipt of her report along with other lies. These Migraines cause loss of vision with flashing wavy lines and are extremely frightening in themselves when nothing else is occurring. I ended up calling 999 as my hubby thought I needed to get checked out for a stroke. Fortunately It wasn't. I had Tachycardia on arrival of the Paramedic but that settled with reassurance. Maybe this info. will help to assess the damage caused by my assessment and the report that followed..

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi @wildlife

I am indeed a solicitor, however like most solicitors, I specialise in a particular area of law, in my case the (somewhat niche) area of social welfare law. As such I don't want to give a definitive answer to your question, as it is not my field of expertise.

What I would say firstly about court action, is that unless you are eligible for fee remission then it may well be costly. Secondly that there needs to be a very direct and provable causal link between the act in question and any loss you suffered - in the case you have, yes the woman lied, and yes you suffered some loss, but the losses (physical, and presumably emotional) were probably not caused by this single act, but by the state of affairs of which this act was only one element.

To my knowledge for a case of falsehood you have to be looking at a financial loss which can be directly reimbursed, and for defamation it has to be damage to your reputation which causes the loss, so in any event if you really wish to try and pursue it I would advise to contact a Personal Injury solicitor for further advice on whether there is a case to make.

Apologies that I can't offer more specific advice. I totally understand your need to try and hold this person accountable for what they have done. I understand that you already have a complaint ongoing, and that is the route I would recommend, ultimately escalating it to the Parliamentary and Health Service ombudsman if the complaint is not dealt with satisfactorily. But I get that this probably won't punish this individual responsible and that that is frustrating for you.

Sorry I can't do more!

Mary

wildlife

Mary, Thank-you so much for taking the time to answer and you have helped me a lot in deciding that it probably wouldn't work trying to go down the legal route. I do still have a complaint in with ATOS and have had good advice from here as to how to proceed with that if ATOS do not come up with a satisfactory outcome. Thanks again...x