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Subscribe to RSSCharla Nash, who was the recipient of a groundbreaking full face transplant in 2011 after an attack by a chimpanzee left her disfigured, talks about gaining more feeling in both sides of her face and building stamina with the hope of undergoing a hand transplant by Christmas.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Lawyers for a woman mauled by a chimpanzee in Connecticut have agreed to a settle a lawsuit against the estate of the primate's now-dead owner, according to court documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Attack victim Charla Nash's brother filed the lawsuit on her behalf in 2009 in state Superior Court seeking $50 million in damages from chimp owner Sandra Herold, who died in 2010. Nash was blinded, lost both hands and underwent a face transplant after being mauled outside Herold's home in Stamford in February 2009.
Lawyers for Nash's twin brother, Michael Nash, accused executors of Herold's estate earlier this week of withholding information needed to complete the settlement, according to a court document obtained by the AP.
An attorney for Herold's estate said Thursday that his office has since provided the information and the settlement is nearly finalized. He declined to elaborate and said the settlement will be confidential.
"The case is resolved," said Brenden Leydon, a Stamford lawyer representing Herold's estate. "I think it was a fair compromise on all sides."
Leydon had argued that Herold's estate couldn't be sued because Charla Nash was an employee of Herold and any claims were a worker's compensation matter.
Messages were left Thursday for Michael Nash and his lawyer. Charla Nash's other brother, Stephen Nash, declined to comment.
Chimp attack victim speaks about new face, new hopes
AP
Charla Nash was severely disabled after she was attacked by a friend's chimp. See how she looked before, and what she looks like now, after a face transplant.
Charla Nash, 57, now lives in a nursing home outside of Boston. She had gone to Herold's home on the day of the attack to help lure Herold's 200-pound chimpanzee, Travis, back into her home. But the animal went berserk and ripped off Nash's nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by a police officer.
Travis had starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger and made an appearance on the "The Maury Povich Show." The chimpanzee was the constant companion of the widowed Herold and was fed steak, lobster and ice cream. The chimp could eat at the table, drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the toilet and dress and bathe himself.
A month after the mauling, Nash's family sued Herold for alleged negligence and recklessness. The lawsuit alleged Herold knew Travis was dangerous but failed to confine him to a secure area and allowed him to roam her property. It also claimed Herold gave the chimp medication that exacerbated his "violent propensities."
Behind the scenes with the real Charla Nash
Travis had previously bitten another woman's hand and tried to drag her into a car in 1996, bit a man's thumb two years later and escaped from her home and roamed downtown Stamford for hours being captured in 2003, according to the lawsuit.
Nash's family is also trying to sue the state for $150 million but is awaiting permission from the state claims commissioner. The state is immune from lawsuits unless they're allowed by the claims commissioner.
Nash wants to sue the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which she holds responsible for not seizing the animal before the attack despite a state biologist's warning it was dangerous.
"I hope and pray that the commissioner will give me my day in court," Charla Nash told reporters following a hearing in August before Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr. She added that she hopes "this never happens to anyone else again. It is not nice."
Court documents obtained by the AP on Thursday show the settlement between Nash's family and Herold's estate was approved Sept. 25 by the Stamford Probate Court and the two sides met Nov. 13 to finalize it.
A lawyer for Michael Nash, Matthew Newman, said in a court document filed Tuesday that since Nov. 13, "executors have failed and refused to provide information necessary to complete the settlement."
Leydon said Thursday that Newman now has the needed information.
Charla Nash, who was mauled by her friend's pet chimpanzee in 2009, has undergone a groundbreaking face and double hand transplant. Her brother Stephen and daughter Briana talk about her remarkable recovery and show pictures revealing her new face.
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i am glad you got the money to provide for you after that terrible accident even though you had to know how dangerous it was to go around a wild animal like that. now the owner was liable and i am happy for you. but when i hear you want to sue all of us tax payers???? thats when you lose me, thats when you are asking to be told how it was your own fault for putting yourself in that sitiation. its these kinds of law suits that are destroying america, the too dumb to think that get rich not thinking. go to the zoo and climb in with the tiger and sue when he chews your arm off. what 50 million wasnt enough or you actually feel like all your friends, family, neighbors and possibly generations should pay for the bad decision you made over and over that finally caight up to you????? well, make sure you pay all your medical bills and future medical bills and if the money ever runs out dont expect sympathy after deciding to sue the people who picked up your medical bills up to now......... damn that makes me mad. everyone else needs to start seeing this money as your own money so attitudes will finally change in this country. call me insensitive but i am not, i felt so bad for her till she said she was gonna sue me by suing the government.
I HATE it when people sue for what was their own stupidity. She was afraid of this animal, yet she went over to help. That indicates to me that she knew it was dangerous.
I agree with you, the animal was dangerous and she went over to the friends house by her own free will to help coral the animal. People also have to be held accountable for such tragic accidents and not sue everyone and everything in sight. I do feel for the woman and her injuries, but these types of lawsuits will bankrupt America soon.
Yeah, she lost me too at Suing The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. If it was reported that the Chimp was dangerous, she should have stayed away.
Maybe it's just me, but how did she NOT KNOW that a wild animal (even one kept in captivity, but especially one with prior bad acts) wouldn't have the capacity to do something like this? Even dogs will, given opportunity. So if she gains the go ahead to sue the city, county, state, etc., wouldn't that open them up to lawsuits from dog mauling victims to killer bee victims, and so on? She has to accept that 'SHE' is to blame for, at the very least, some of what happen to her...
The reason that her lawyers are going after the government is because until the governement pays out a huge settlement, nothing will be done to ban people from owning wild animals. Wild animals belong in the WILD. Or, in this case, this tortured, abused chimpanzee should have been in a sanctuary for retired performing animals with professionals who knew how to handle him. No amount of steak, lobster or ice cream will take a wild animals instincts to kill his own food away. You never know which one of your crazy neighbors has a lion, tiger, alligator or python in his back yard or even in his house. They get loose, and they kill. Sometimes they kill pets, and sometimes they kill humans. It is all instinct that has been in their DNA for thousands of years. No amount of attempted "domestication" can take it away. Charla was just trying to help her friend, and she did not deserve to be blinded and disabled by a chimp who should never have been where he was in the first place. I hope she wins her lawsuit.
I wish this woman well and I think her injuries were absolutely awful...but she had stated in the past somewhere that she had some fears about that chimp and she did go voluntarily. I feel the tax payers are taxed enough and that being said this is why so many of us are campaigning against the ownership by private individuals of wild animals...it just does not work for the animals or the people.
Where 's Ann Curry? We need to bring her back and I'm sorry Matt but you've just gotten past your 'happy' time on the show and look more and more unhappy. Please, give yourself a break to get your 'joy' back and bring back Ann, we miss her. I miss her and bet a lot of others do too.
I agree with everyone here, 'seriously, how could she not know' and for that reason, the State shouldn't grant her the right to have her case be heard. She put herself in the situation and should be grateful the owner's estate could pay a settlement. Because, if she were on Medicaid, which she might be, it would be doubtful she would have had that 20 hour, 12 provider surgery even though no doubt large portions of that bill were 'pro bono' by the providers, hospital, etc..... Great story, incredible progress in medicine over the last 150 years. That's the real story here. But, God Bless Her and the Chimp! Poor sot.
It seems sometimes, that just like corporations which must pay out big bucks before they will step up and do what is right, sometimes one must force the government to do what is right.
Remember all those victims who died due to contaminated vaccines from compounding companies that didn't have to follow the same regulations as drug manufacturers? All because the Supreme Court in 2002 stripped the FDA of most powers to create regulations.And Congress failed two times to pass laws giving it those powers. Leaving only States with some regulations.
But now after these deaths, with the public anger and Congress getting the heat, you can bet things will change. Just like human nature, too many times it is only after the attention and suffering happens, that changes come about. Not when just a little problem springs up here and there.
As much as it is unfair to put this burden upon the American taxpayer, how many other Americans are going to be suffering from individuals who are keeping wild animals that should never be allowed in their homes? What are insurance companies paying out to victims, that is coming from other Americans who are paying higher premiums? Eventually it will exceed whatever is settled by this woman's lawsuit for this State'
Very well stated Windancersong. I wonder what the people on this forum who are blaming Charla would think if their 5 year old was playing in their own backyard, and a tiger roamed in and tore his eyes out and ripped his hands off would feel like. Especially when they found out that complaints had been filed, and the local government knew their neighbor had the dangerous tiger, and did NOTHING to protect them and their child. Until those responsible for neglecting the safety of the public pay BIG TIME, nothing is going to change. I hope a huge payout will set a precedent, and these poor abused animals will be put where they belong, in a sanctuary.