Results: Chimp Attack Victim Sues State for $150 Million
Published on 03/23/2014
A Connecticut woman mauled by a friend's chimpanzee in 2009 is suing Connecticut for $150 million dollars. Nash was attacked while trying to help coax her friend's 14-year-old pet chimpanzee back into her house. She sued Sandra Herold, the owner of the chimp, and received $4 million for her injuries, but according to spokesman Shelly Sindland, that settlement doesn't even begin to cover the expenses for her treatment. Sindland said authorities at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ignored a memo sent in October 2008, four months before the attack, from Connecticut state biologist Elaine Hinsch that said Travis the chimp was "an accident waiting to happen." The state, Sindland alleges, "knew that the chimp was a danger" but didn't do anything to remove it from the home.
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Should the state be liable for the injuries Nash has?
Yes, they knew the chimp was dangerous
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No, it's not their responsibility
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Connecticut attorney general spokeswoman Jaclyn Falkowski said "The legal question in this case is: Did the state owe a legal duty to protect Ms. Nash from attack by a privately owned chimp on private property? Under well-settled law, it did not.While we have the utmost sympathy for Charla Nash, we do not believe that the state is liable for Ms. Nash's injuries. To decide otherwise would set a very dangerous precedent, exposing the state and its taxpayers to unlimited liability and costly litigation." Do you agree that if the case goes through, people will begin suing the state more often? Yes
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No
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Do you think chimpanzees should be legal pets? Yes
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No
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By law, anyone seeking to sue the state of Connecticut must seek permission to do so. Connecticut is one of only several states in the country that maintains sovereign immunity, and the only one where a single claims commissioner makes the decision if someone can sue the state. Do you think more states and provinces should do this? Yes
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No
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Do you think that Nash is not taking personal responsibility for her actions, as she willingly entered the house? Yes, I don't think she takes any personal responsibility
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No, i do think she takes personal responsibility
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