Personal injury claim thrown out after Irish woman pictured throwing Christmas Tree
Emily Dunham - 4 March 2024
An Irish woman found herself up a tree this week after having her personal injury claim thrown out. Why? Because she was pictured throwing a five-foot spruce in a charity competition... and winning! Kamila Grabska had made the claim back in 2017 after her car was hit from behind. She said that injuries to her back and neck meant that she was unable to work for more than five years and could not play with her children. She claimed that she had been left in a “disabling condition,” quit her job and has since been in receipt of disability payments. Her claim was for the loss of past and future earnings as a result of her injuries - a pretty typical personal injury claim.
Of course, you’ve probably heard of situations where someone gets caught in a lie when social media reveals a different story to the one they’d been telling. Well, it’s no different in this case. While Grabska may not have been caught in the background of a live TV broadcast when she should have been at work, a photo of her winning a tree throwing competition unravelled her case.
Grabska claimed that she was still in pain and suffering from her injuries and had participated in the competition to try to live a normal life. The judge of the case, however, dismissed her claim as the photo – which was published in a national newspaper – showed just how well she was managing. If you make a personal injury claim and are found to have lied or exaggerated your injuries or the losses related to the claim, it can be struck out. That’s a fact that Grabska now knows all too well, having missed out on £650,000. So, while we won’t condone lying (and don’t wish an injury claim on anyone), this case certainly comes as a warning that you can’t keep your personal life separate from a personal injury claim!