Court dismisses $10 million defamation case over GP’s 26-year-old referral letter
The case 'could only be described as vexatious', two supreme court judges said.
A GP accused of defaming a patient in a referral letter he wrote in 1997 has prevailed after the “vexatious” $10 million claim was thrown out of court — twice.
The case revolved around the GP’s referral of the patient to a psychiatric ward in November 1997.
Court documents filed in February 2022 alleged the referral “falsely claimed [the patient] had a mental illness” and was “suffering from delusional thoughts about being persecuted by the CIA”.
The case, filed by the patient’s wife without a lawyer, said these “nasty lies” cost the patient his reputation and family, leaving him homeless.
