The Vale of Aylesbury Primary Care Trust has seen off a libel action brought by a former employee over a reference it provided to a new employer.
The Claimant, who had been employed as a dietician for 6 months in 2001, maintained that the reference was untrue and alleged that the person who wrote it and her former manager had been malicious.
After a 5-day libel trial at the High Court in London before Mr Justice Gray, the jury returned a verdict for the Defendant, finding that although the reference was defamatory of the Claimant it was substantially true. The jury also found that the former manager had not been malicious in writing his notes, but that the manager who wrote the reference did so to prevent the Claimant from obtaining employment.
5RB‘s Sara Mansoori (instructed by Hempsons) represented the Vale of Aylesbury Primary Care Trust.