You win some, you lose some. An Irish woman lost out on a payout worth more than $800,000 in U.S. dollars in an injury lawsuit after the judge dismissed her claim earlier this year because she won a tree-throwing competition just months after her supposed injury.
Kamila Grabska claimed that a 2017 car accident left her with pain in her back, neck, and spine, and she filed an insurance lawsuit in 2022 claiming she was unable to work for the previous five years.1
In court proceedings in Limerick,2 she was questioned about a photo published by a local newspaper the year after her injury that showed her heaving a Christmas tree through the air.3 Grabska said in court that she was only trying to “live a normal life.” Other evidence presented included video of her playing with a dog for up to an hour and a half.
Judge Carmel Stewart described the tree-throwing photo as “very graphic,” and dismissed Grabska’s lawsuit, saying “I’m afraid I cannot but conclude the claims were entirely exaggerated.”
As this tax season is winding down, here’s hoping you haven’t had to deal with a questionable return that may feel entirely exaggerated in its own way. After all, you can only trust a troublesome client as far as you can throw him, which is good news — unless, of course, you’re in Ireland and that client is a tree.