- Kamila Grabska said she was left in a ‘disabling’ condition following the accident
- A damning photo of her throwing a tree surfaced a year after the car crash
A mother who tried to claim almost £650,000 for injuries she sustained in a car crash lost her case after she was pictured winning a Christmas tree throwing contest.
Kamila Grabska, 36, said she was left with a ‘disabling’ condition following the accident in February 2017, which saw the vehicle she was in hit from behind.
She had sued RSA Insurance on the basis that she could not work for over five years, play with her children or carry out basic chores due to her constant back and neck pain.
But an Irish High Court hearing, sitting in Limerick, was shown a damning photo which had been published in a national newspaper of her hurling the spruce on January 8, 2018.
Grabska argued that while she looked happy in the pictures from the charity event, she was still suffering from her injuries and endured pain to this day.
Kamila Grabska, 36, said she was left with a ‘disabling’ condition following the accident
The married mother-of-two pictured after winning the ladies section in the seventh annual Christmas Tree throwing Championships in Ennis, County Clare,
But Judge Carmel Stewart threw out the case and remarked that the ‘very graphic picture’ of her tossing the winter fir had helped her make the decision.
The Irish Independent reported the judge saying: ‘It is a very large, natural Christmas tree and it is being thrown by her in a very agile movement.
‘I’m afraid I cannot but conclude the claims were entirely exaggerated. On that basis, I propose to dismiss the claim.’
The married mother-of-two, 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 £427,340 (Euro 500,000).
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.
Grabska argued that while she looked happy in the pictures from the charity event, she was still suffering from her injuries and endured pain to this day
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.
Grabska 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.