Benefits seeker animal punished in court (8)
I believe the answer is:
claimant
'benefits seeker' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'animal punished in court' is the wordplay.
'punished' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'animal' is an anagram of 'laiman'.
'laiman' put into 'ct' is 'CLAIMANT'.
(Other definitions for claimant that I've seen before include "One asking for something as a right" , "12-er" , "I assert" , "Person taking legal action" , "Person seeking payout" .)