GREEN THUMB

Mom Blows Shot at Disability Payout After Winning Local Christmas Tree Toss

The Irish woman may have missed out on as much as $820,000.

An Irish court has thrown out an injury claim filed by a mom who was photographed competing in—and winning—a Christmas tree toss by a newspaper, with a court ruling it proved her injuries from a 2017 car crash weren’t as bad as she claimed. The bizarre mistake by Kamila Grabska, 34, may have cost her as much as $820,000, which was how much she requested as payout from an insurance company. Grabska claimed the crash left her in “debilitating pain,” saying she was no longer able to lift grocery bags and that she was regularly bedridden, the Irish Independent reported. She claimed the pain was so severe, she couldn’t work for more than five years, so she sued the insurance company for past and future lost wages. Grabska lost any hope in a payout after photos from the 2018 Christmas tree toss competition surfaced in her hometown, which showed her chucking a massive spruce. Another photo showed her smiling with a plaque that declared her the competition’s winner. The case’s judge noted that Grabska didn’t appear to be in pain at the competition, with the Independent reporting he said it was a “very large, natural Christmas tree” being thrown with “very agile movement.”