Irish Woman Loses $825,000 Injury Lawsuit Because of a Photo

Irish woman Kamila Grabska, 36, has lost a lawsuit she filed against RSA Insurance over alleged injuries sustained in a 2017 car crash. A 2018 photo of Grabska throwing a Christmas tree is at the heart of the legal outcome.

Grabska sued RSA Insurance for €760,383, nearly $825,000 at current exchange rates, alleging that severe neck and back pain resulting from the 2017 accident significantly affected her quality of life and ability to work.

However, a high court in Limerick, Ireland, dismissed Grabska’s claim after a photo was introduced as evidence that showed Grabska participating — and winning — a Christmas tree throwing competition in January 2018.

“It is a very large, natural Christmas tree and it is being thrown by her in a very agile movement,” Justice Carmel Stewart argued in court. The competition tasks competitors with throwing a 1.5-meter tall tree.

The photo, captured by Eamon Ward, shows Grabska heaving the tree, and winning the ladies’ event. Another one of Ward’s images was featured on BBC.

One of Ward’s portraits of Grabska is seen in the bottom left corner of Ward’s Instagram post below.

The Irish Independent reports that the judge determined that Grabska’s claims of injuries were exaggerated.

“I’m afraid I cannot but conclude the claims were entirely exaggerated. On that basis, I propose to dismiss the claim,” the judge concluded.

Ms. Grabska reportedly admitted in court that she had won the 2018 tree-throwing competition. The court ruled that the evidence that Grabska had been physically active the year following the accident, which Grabska claimed had rendered her unable to perform daily activities in the subsequent years, contradicted Grabska’s claims.

A video documenting Grabska training her dog last November was also introduced as evidence.

Justice Stewart says that the photo of the Christmas tree throwing competition and additional photo and video evidence of Grabska’s physical abilities were “completely at odds” with the woman’s injury claims.

During legal proceedings, the court found that Grabska had been receiving disability benefits due to her injury and had not been working.

Grabska insisted in court that she did not fake her injuries and that evidence of her performing physical tasks was instead proof that she had attempted to live a normal life despite her injuries.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.