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A WOMAN’S €60,000 damages claim for personal injuries was dismissed in the Circuit Civil Court today after a judge found her case was undermined by photos she had posted online.
Rita Milinovic, a 29-year-old Lithuanian who has been living in Ireland for almost 10 years, told the court how her life had been dramatically changed by what was described as a minor collision in a car park.
But her case collapsed when barrister Shane English brought her through a collection of pictures which she had posted of herself on Facebook since the accident.
She was unaware that Mr English and Newmans Allianz Solicitors – the legal team acting for defending van driver Paul Ferris and O’Dwyer Property Management Limited – had downloaded them from her Facebook page.
They included a picture of her after having climbed to the top of Bray Head, as well as bikini-clad shots of her posing at international body sculpture competitions and others exercising in a gym.
Milinovic of Belfry Hall, Citywest, Dublin, told the court she had been driving her boyfriend’s car on 5 April last year, looking for a space in a car park, when Ferris, a driver for O’Dwyer Property Management had reversed into her.
She claimed she had suffered severe personal injuries and had to give up her waitressing work for six months before having to abandon her work altogether because she had been in such pain that she could not even carry plates.
Milinovic told English in cross-examination she had never been a member of a gym before the barrister produced pictures and evidence of her current membership of and exercising in a gym in Dublin and another in Lithuania. She said she swam at the Dublin gym to help her back.
English then presented her with pictures of herself dressed in a bikini at competitions in Lithuania, Latvia and Denmark. She said she had posed in photoshoots for a magazine.
“You have been wincing in agony in the witness box while giving your evidence and denied on oath you were ever a member of a gym,” English said.
You have told us nothing about your sports hobbies until your own Facebook pictures were presented to the court.
“Your case from beginning to end is a lie,” he said.
You are prepared to sue the defendants for damages and six months’ salary because you were incapable of working.
‘Far from impressed’
The president of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke, called the case “worrying”.
He said Milinovic had presented a case of very serious injuries to her neck, shoulders and back and was unable to work “in any shape or form”, yet she had been photographed after walking to the top of Bray Head shortly after the accident.
“Having read the medical reports and listening to the plaintiff’s evidence, the court is far from impressed by the veracity of her account of her injuries,” Groarke said.
She had been, at the very least, evasive in respect of her membership of a gym and extremely evasive as regards what form of exercise she had engaged in, he said.
It is not the type of veracity a judge expects. Walking to the top of Bray Head six weeks after the accident is, with respect, not what somebody who is quite as disabled as Ms Milinovic seems to have been would be doing.
Groarke said this raised questions about how deceitful Milinovic had been with the court.
“Trying to be as politically correct as one can be in this situation, it does not look like a person with such a fine physical physique as Ms Milinovic has could have been suffering a great deal of pain,” he said.
It is perfectly obvious this is a very fit person who is not in any way physically limited in her life.
He accepted some of the pictures may have been of photoshoots, but others showed her doing physical exercises – exercises somebody with a bad back would certainly not be engaging in.
Her pictured activities did not correspond with the description she had given of herself since the accident.
“The person we see in these photographs is a very fine human specimen who is clearly in the best of physical condition and who has been working to get into that physical condition,” Groarke said.
While she may have suffered some degree of injury in the accident, it could not have been particularly serious and the law demanded of people coming to court that they must do so in total honesty, he said.
Groarke said all litigants must be honest with the court and failure to do so attracted the penalty of dismissal.
Milinovic’s case was dismissed and she was ordered to pay legal costs.
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Should be charged by Gardai now for attempted fraud.
Good to see this type of free loading chancery being tackled by the courts with this & other instances. Will she foot the bill? Unlikely but perhaps a stay in prison might deter others from this crap. I for one have a pain in my phukking hoop watching my insurance premiums skyrocket even though I’ve never had an accident to cover claims spurious or otherwise.
Caught rapid.
She should have criminal charges brought against her for insurance fraud, absolute criminal that she can walk away from this with only costs against her.
Hahaha. She has been shamed (that’s assuming she’s capable of feeling shame). Hope she’s reading this. Hope you back is ok love.
xoxoxoxoxo
What’s needed in this case is a prosecution against her for fraud. This might put an end to these ridiculous claims.
Hope the bill for costs is a big one….
If the bill is big she’ll likely just head back to Lithuania.
Agreed, but she’ll be leaving with nothing and at least it may serve as a deterrent to others thinking about making a fraudulent claim.
What about the legal team who allowed this to go to court?
I almost had to close my business of 60 excellent employees by catastrophic insurance hikes due entirely to fake injuries and bogus claims lodged by mainly eastern europe employees working in concert and this in many instances by partners and friends .
Great to see guys flushed out at last ,they threaten jobs and the reputation of their very hard working country men and women .
Insurers are really to blame by not stamping this out at an early stage instead of settling claims without proper analysis during the good times .
When will people cop on and realise if you post your life on FB then be prepared to be caught on in your lies. Another good day for justice.
Ssshhhh. Let them post away. It helped in this case and hopefully more idiots will be caught out like this.
There needs to be jail terms for this, stiff penalties are the only way to discourage these types of people. The risk must be far greater then the reward!
This story has put a smile on my face. Delighted for her.
It’s people like this with their false claims that are pushing up insurance premiums for ordinary decent people.
A lot of people don’t seem to understand how insurance works though. On another article a couple of days ago one commenter said it was just another form of tax that you never get anything back from. Its no wonder a lot of people can’t seem to join the dots when it comes to insurance fraud and premium costs etc. if their basic understanding of insurance is so lacking.
It’s one thing you consistently pay for in life that hope you never need
I mentioned this in a previous injury claim that was dismissed but I think it’s needs to be pointed out again. This lady I’m 100% sure had reports from various medical personnel backing and verifying her claim. The medical profession need to start being held accountable for this “fraud” racket as well.
In fairness, if you read medical reports of this nature they usually present subjective (reported by the patient) and objective (found by the doctor). A doctor can’t simply write “I think this woman is faking it” but they can write down what the woman claims, and then write what they themselves find. The court will usually see through the lines.
Unfortunately, pain is subjective and different for all of us. Makes it hard for the fakers to get caught!
Sean ,you will find that her medical advisor has most likely relocated to Ireland from her own region to become the specialist advisor for all of these scammers ,this applies to the legal advisors too and some irish who gain a reputation for no foal no fee but a high percentage of the takings .
Great news! More results like this please! These fraudulent claims are the reason my car insurance premiums are so high despite having a perfect record.
stung!
She should get a custodial sentence for that as well as pay all costs associated
I’d settle for her to be deported.
She will probably try sue her solicitor now for not informing her of the pitfalls of posting on FB while trying to commit fraud.
Was she that stupid to think she would be checked. People are so stupid when it comes to social media putting pictures on Facebook when they are supposed to sick or injured. Will they ever learn.
Jaysus that’s a racy avatar :)
Are you alright there Fergal?
Prefer Peanut.
Take the dole money of the Bi##h as well for quitting her job
What a chancer..
If that photo in the bikini is a result of the accident, she deserves millions.
cast iron neck.
She should be put forward for the Seanad
“Groarke said all litigants must be honest with the court and failure to do so attracted the penalty of dismissal.”
Interesting.
The penalty for perjury redefined by the President of the Circuit Court.
There is no law on the Irish statue book regarding perjury I’m afraid. http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/the-haphazard-state-of-perjury-law-1.357008 I know the article is old but the law hasn’t changed and somehow I doubt our politicians are in much of a hurry in that regard.
Surely there could be criminal charges brought in this case!
Such a blatant fraudulant claim should be pursued!
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha sorry sorry. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. ……
Finally Facebook useful for something and she’ll be working more than 6 months to pay costs and rightly so.
Busted!
Scarlet for her , I’d say she was in a heap up on that stand !
The sindo focussed on how much of a “stunning beauty” she is and even gave a weblink to her facebook profile pictures. Glad you removed that when you copied and pasted, journal. ;-)
The Sindo just saw the “nuclear” tan and assumed it was one of their own lovelies…
We paid a Romanian pimp €35,000 in backdated social welfare, so I suppose this little slimebag figured she’d get some handy cash too.
They all regard us as a soft touch.
Not so sure Micheal:
“Having read the medical reports and listening to the plaintiff’s evidence, the court is far from impressed by the veracity of her account of her injuries,” Groarke said.”
This would appear to me as if the medical reports held a true account of her injuries, while she tried to embellish them. The barrister attacks her account of the injuries, but not the medical reports.
It’s a difficult situation for a doctor when a patient is telling you something that is not reflected in x rays or MRI’s – take back pain for example, just because nothing shows up on MRI – does not mean the pain doesn’t exist.
Very serious questions have to be asked of the doctors who provided the “medical” evidence to support this case and of the insurance companies that are ever so willing to settle out of court, the excuse being that a doctors note trumps everything.
The lawyers should also be charged and fined. It will deter the range of them that profit from this crime.
What an idiot.
Caught my her muscular balls
Another chancer if you ask me but our legal system depends on them for business? Any chance that the ambulance chasing solicitors might also be penalised for assisting in this type of fraud?
They should investigate her for drug smuggling because it looks like she’s concealing several pounds of crack in those bikini bottoms.
That bikini is too tight to hold anything up.
May be the reason she was shown up
That bikini is too tight to hold anything up.
May be the reason she was shown up
Are perjury laws ever utilised? Obviously this is a summary, but on the face of it it looks like an open and shut case.
Same thing is happening to me, but Fbd told me I can’t defend it cause I admitted liability . And they’re just going to pay out the personal injury claim. Any ideas what I can do????
There are too many petty claims these days and no-one takes responsibility for anything its compensation first !!! It needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets to court ..sue her for wasting valuable time!!
Reminds me of del boy and uncle Albert and solly the brief
Thank god this one was caught on the act.
Only god knows how many of these bogus claims get through every day.
Not only this woman should be punished. The solicitor and the Barrister that help her initiates this claim should also be fined to deter them from taking such an obviously bogus case.
This will save all of us from the high cost of insurance
Neck like a bockeys jollox….. Delighted for her………..
2nd Free-loader / Fraudster caught in a week due to their F/Book postings – Brill.
what’s that under your cloak Judge??
finally some real justice brill
What’s “worrying” is that the judiciary can only detect a total BS story when absolutely irrefutable evidence is produced. Many of us pay thousands in insurance premiums every year solely because these selfish, unethical & criminal clowns convince judges of their greatly exaggerated (non) injuries.
The medical report of an accident victim truly plays a crucial role in determining whether he has the right to seek compensation. The police reports reflect a more vivid picture of whether the accident was caused by the negligence of the other party or not. The claimants shouldn’t by any means try to fabricate the truth associated with an accident case. Expert attorneys associated with a law firm like Shireslaw have gained adequate knowledge and experience in handling these cases more effectively.
Claims need to be awarded on the basis of a victim’s medical records since the time of the accident. Victims must understand certain facts before submitting their claims. They must understand that the personal injury lawyers are experts that have handled such cases for years and are aware of the tricks of their trade. So, no foul play is admissible!
These people have little accident and they feel compensation setting in, Irish people have been doing that fort years.
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