Charla Nash: Travis The Chimpanzee Victim Seeks To Sue State

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The family of a Connecticut woman mauled and blinded by a chimpanzee sought Wednesday to sue the state for $150 million, saying officials failed to prevent the attack.

Attorneys for Charla Nash's family filed a notice Wednesday with the state Office of Claims Commissioner asking for permission to sue.

The 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk in February when his owner, Sandra Herold, asked Nash to help lure him back into her house in Stamford.

The animal ripped off Nash's hands, nose, lips and eyelids; she remains in stable condition at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

A Department of Environmental Protection biologist warned state officials before the attack that Travis could seriously hurt someone if he felt threatened, noting that he was large and strong.

"We believe the evidence will show that the state, acting through the Department of Environmental Protection, failed to adequately address a serious public safety issue that resulted in tragic consequences for our client," said Matt Newman, attorney for Nash's family.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday that his office is reviewing the claim. He said that he is sympathetic over the "horrific tragedy" but that the planned lawsuit "seems unprecedented in size."

Dennis Schain, Environmental Protection spokesman, said his agency had not received any paperwork yet but would cooperate with the claims commissioner and attorney general.

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The claim comes at a difficult time for Connecticut, where the two-year, $37.6 billion budget is already $624 million in deficit.

"There is a potential for a very significant exposure to the state, depending on how the facts are developed in the claims process," said state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford.

Nash's family earlier filed a $50 million lawsuit against Herold, saying she was negligent and reckless for lacking the ability to control "a wild animal with violent propensities."

Herold's attorney, who declined to comment on the new claim, has called the attack work-related and said her family's case should be treated like a workers' compensation claim. The strategy, if successful, would limit potential damages in the case and insulate the chimp owner from personal liability.

The animal, which was shot and killed by police, had also escaped in 2003 from his owner's car and led police on a chase for hours in downtown Stamford. No one was injured.

Records obtained by The Associated Press through a state open-records request show the state began receiving warnings immediately after that event.

"The DEP had information for at least five years that would have permitted that agency to have removed Travis from its residence," Nash's attorneys wrote in the new papers, noting the agency did prosecute the owner of a much smaller primate. "If the DEP had acted prudently, Charla Nash would not have been devastatingly injured."

Environmental protection officials have said that over the 13 years Travis was with Herold, the agency received only a few inquiries about Travis among thousands in general about possession of wild animals.

They said the memo from the biologist underscored the need for a clear, new law that would forbid ownership of potentially dangerous animals as pets and impose stiff penalties for those possessing them, and they blamed the failure to act on a communications problem and a lack of expertise in exotic animals at the agency.

Nash's family has a year from the date of the attack to file a claim with the claims commissioner office. The commissioner can recommend an award to the legislature or grant authorization to sue the state in court.

If the commissioner denies the request to seek damages from the state, the family could appeal to the legislature. Without its consent, the state cannot be held liable in a legal action for any damage or injury it may cause.

Police fatally shot the 14-year-old chimp when he tried to attack an officer responding to the assault on Nash on Feb. 16. Test results showed that Travis had the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system, but investigators don't know whether the drug played a role.

Comments

[pinoytutorials]

One couldn't blame the family of Nash. Maybe other would say they are exaggerating but try to put your shoes on theirs and maybe you will realize that 50 million isn't enough to bring back the normal life of a woman who got herself brutally ravage and almost killed with a chimpanzee

call me subjective but I am not in the position to say that filing a lawsuit of 50 million USD was entirely an act of exaggeration.

Review about the Charla Nash incident plus Feedback about Oprah: Link: http://bit.ly/charla-nash-horrible-pictures-and-her-oprah-interview

would you say the interview was some sort of a bit of exploitation, or not?

[DebbyM]

Isn't it amazing how governments are trying to or are banning certain breeds of dogs like pitbulls, and yet there are so often no laws that prohibit the keeping of a wild animals as a pet. In British Columbia Canada, a couple years ago, a guys tiger killed and started to eat his girlfriend. Where are the laws?

[OswegoKayaker]

How terribly sad. Wild animals really aren't suitable pets. During my college years I had a job building cages for a woman who had 27 monkeys. The woman was a professor and even though she worked very hard at caring for the creatures the smell & noise was unpleasant. The city health inspectors would come to check making sure she only had the 6 or 7 she was permitted but scheduled an appointment giving her time to hide the others.

I wanted to build a new cage for the largest -- a black spider monkey but she made me finish the cages for the others first. The monkey was quite intelligent and had a prehensile tail. One day I got too close and the monkey wrapped his tail around me and slammed me against its cage and I realized he was incredibly strong. Finally the new cage was ready and even had a tire swing. On moving day he cowered in the small cramped cage pushed next to his new cage so that he could not get loose. He was hunch-backed from his long stay in the too-small cage. My work was done but months later I visited him and he recognized me. He was swinging on his tire and was happy to have made a difference in his life. But I knew how quickly such a strong creature could hurt a person. There are good reasons for the laws.