A mum of two has lost her €760,000 claim for injuries sustained from a car crash after she was hailed the winner of a Christmas tree tossing competition.
Kamila Grabska, 36, from Ireland, was caught red-handed after she was pictured hurling a “large” tree a year after the accident took place. It comes after the mum claimed she was left with a “disabling” condition after the vehicle she was in was hit from behind in February 2017.
The mum said she would be unable to work for more than five years due to the deliberating condition. She further claimed that her injuries would affect how she plays with her kids. But she also went as far as to say that the injury hindered her from being able to carry heavy shopping bags.
However, a court dismissed her case after it was shown the incriminating photo in a national newspaper of her throwing the tree with “a very agile” movement. Grabska admitted that she did look happy in the photos from the charity event but said she still endures pain since the crash.
Despite the mum’s plea, Judge Carmel Stewart said that the “very graphic picture” from the seventh annual Christmas Tree Throwing Championships had helped her make the decision.
The married mum from Ennis, County Clare, told doctors her injuries were so severe after the accident, on February 3, 2017, that she could not lift a heavy bag without feeling shooting pain. She quit her job following the crash and took disability payments – writing in court documents her past and future loss of earnings amounted to €500,000. The injury claim amounted to €760,383.
Grabska even said there were times when her husband had to bring medication to her in bed, which she could not leave for half of the day due to her agony. But the court heard that just a few days before she had informed doctors of her terrible condition, she had finished top in the charity Christmas tree chucking event.
During the hearing, some footage was also submitted in evidence from November last year that showed Grabska training her large dog for over an hour in a park. She denied the suggestion that she had faked her injuries, telling the court that she was simply “trying to live a normal life,” the Irish Independent reported.
But her case was dismissed after the judge ruled her activities following the crash were “completely at odds” with the medical evidence she gave of her injuries.
If you would like an assessment of a claim, you can use the online form available here without obligation or alternatively you can use the automatic claim calculator.
