WORLD

Mom loses $820,000 injuries claim after she was pictured tossing a Christmas tree

Kamila Grabska had claimed that a car accident in 2017 left her with “debilitating pain.”


Kamila Grabska's six-figure insurance claim was partly scuppered by this picture. Eamon Ward / SWNS

Feb. 26, 2024, 8:15 AM EST
By Yuliya Talmazan

Her case was felled by a Christmas tree throwing competition. ... A mother has had her $820,000 insurance claim dismissed by a court in Ireland after a picture emerged of her winning a contest to see who could toss a tree the farthest.

Kamila Grabska, 36, had claimed that a car accident in 2017 left her with “debilitating pain,” leaving her unable to lift heavy bags and keeping her in bed on bad days, according to disclosures made at Ireland's High Court and reported by the Irish Independent newspaper. ... The constant pain in her back, neck and thoracic spine left her unable to lift groceries, do chores or play with her two children, the newspaper reported the disclosures made to the court sitting in Limerick, as saying.

She sued RSA Insurance on the basis that she could not work for over five years, claiming for past and future loss of earnings which amounted to around $542,000 of her total claim, according to the Irish Independent. ... Her case became unstuck when a photo published in the same newspaper almost a year after her accident showed Grabska winning a Christmas tree throwing contest.

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But Judge Carmel Stewart, who presided over the case, said she had no choice but to dismiss the claim because of the “very graphic picture” of Grabska throwing the Christmas tree which was “at odds” with the medical evidence provided. “I’m afraid I cannot but conclude the claims were entirely exaggerated,” she said. ... She also took into consideration footage from last November, played to the court, showing Grabska play-wrestling with a big Dalmatian dog for up to 1.5 hours, according to the paper.

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Yuliya Talmazan
Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.