Three years ago, Stamford, Connecticut resident Charla Nash received a call from her friend Sandra Herold to help her calm down her 200-pound pet chimp. Nash rushed over. That's when the chimp attacked her. She was left with no face, ears, or hands. The chimp was put down. Soon after Herold died. Nash, though, lived to endure many operations, including a face transplant. Now, she is suing the State of Connecticut.
As CBS reports, Nash's lawyer Charles Willinger has filed a lawsuit for $150 million. The suit alleges that the state departments of Energy and Environmental Protection should have either given Herold a permit to have the chimp or removed the chimp from the house. Instead they did nothing. Nash contends that had the state taken appropriate action she wouldn't have suffered the injuries she had.
Like the Chelsea home invasion of the Petit family, this chimp attack was a sustained global story. Nash was not expected to live. When she did, the world followed her recovery. She had appeared on "Oprah," with her face covered, before her transplant. Meanwhile lots of people were wondering what a 200-pound chimp was doing in a suburban home being treated like a domestic pet.
Now the story is back in the headlines. This is one for the sages at Abovethelaw.com to opine about the merit of the case.
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