


Nash filed a lawsuit against Herold, who died in 2010. He urged lawmakers to reject her request. However, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said that allowing Nash to sue the state would “open the floodgates for unlimited lawsuits and liability that would bankrupt the state.” “You and Charla Nash have given us a lot to go over,” Connecticut State Senator John Kissel said. Members of the 45-member committee seemed stunned by Willinger’s presentation. “As you are aware, this is the same chimpanzee that escaped from the owner’s car and led local police on a wild chase for hours in downtown Stamford until the animal could be secured back in the car.” I am concerned that if he feels threatened or if someone enters his territory, he could seriously hurt someone,” Hinsch wrote in the memo. “The animal has reached adult maturity, is very large and tremendously strong. Willinger presented the committee with a memo written by state DEEP biologist Elaine Hinsch to her supervisors in October 2008, less than four months before the chimp attacked Nash. What you will hear will be upsetting and appalling,” Willinger said. “The facts you will shortly hear - and these are facts that will shock you - demonstrate the failure and omission of a state agency to properly and legally protect the public.

Nash’s lawyer, Charles Willinger of Bridgeport, insisted that his client has the right to have her day in court. The animal was shot dead at the scene by a Stamford police officer. Nash was at the Stamford home of her friend and employer, Sandra Herold, when Herold’s pet chimp, Travis, attacked her, leaving her blind and disfigured. 13, "executors have failed and refused to provide information necessary to complete the settlement.“I want the chance to pay my medical bills and live a comfortable life, but I also want to make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone else ever again,” Nash said. 13 to finalize it.Ī lawyer for Michael Nash, Matthew Newman, said in a court document filed Tuesday that since Nov. It is not nice."Ĭourt documents obtained by the AP on Thursday show the settlement between Nash's family and Herold's estate was approved by the Stamford Probate Court on Sept. "And I also pray that I hope this never happens to anyone else again. "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. 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. The state is immune from lawsuits unless they're allowed by the claims commissioner. Nash' family is also trying to sue the state for $150 million, but is awaiting permission from the state claims commissioner. 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. The lawsuit alleged Herold knew Travis was dangerous, but failed to confine him to a secure area and allowed him to roam her property.Īaron Rodgers reportedly takes huge pay cut in restructured deal with Jets But the animal went berserk and ripped off Nash's nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being shot to death by a police officer.Ī month after the mauling, Nash's family sued Herold for alleged negligence and recklessness. 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. Lawyers in the case and Nash family members didn't immediately return messages Thursday.Ĭharla Nash, 57, now lives in a nursing home outside of Boston. Lawyers for Nash's twin brother, Michael Nash, accused executors of Herold's estate this week of failing to provide information needed to complete the settlement, according to a court document obtained by the AP. 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 a woman mauled by a chimpanzee in Connecticut have agreed to settle a lawsuit against the estate of the primate's now-dead owner, but there's a dispute over the final details, according to court documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.Īttack 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.
