Charla Nash's Family Sues

Three months after Travis the Chimp attacked Charla Nash and left her with $700,000 in medical bills (and counting), the family has decided to sue Sandra Herold, Travis' owner. They are asking for $50 million. Catch the full story Charla Nash and Travis the Chimp here and here.


Charla was badly mauled by the chimp and lost both hands, her nose, her lips, her eyelids and the bone structure in her face. She may have suffered some brain damage. She is blind and faces years of medical procedures. She remains in "critical but stable" condition and has made "significant neurological and psychological improvement," her doctors said.

"She is now awake and is able to communicate with her family and caregivers," physicians at the Cleveland clinic said in a statement.

"However, full cognitive recovery could take up to a year. As we have begun to communicate with her, it is clear that her injury has left her completely blind in both eyes, with no chance for improvement."

The doctors have said that they will focus first on her facial trauma but to think about a facial transplant "is premature at this time."

The attorneys for both sides came together Wednesday (5/6/09) in Stamford Superior Court before Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. and reached a preliminary agreement that up to $10 million of Sandra Herold's assets will be frozen, stipulating that Herold may not dispose of or cause a dissipation in value of six parcels of property and three businesses she owns in Stamford. The value of the holdings are worth an estimated $4 million.

The agreement also calls for Herold to turn over to Matthew Newman (Charla Nash's lawyer) by June 1 documents he has requested that may further identify her assets, followed by Herold being deposed by June 15 to fully determine the location and value of her assets.

Judge Edward R. Karazin asked Herold's attorney, Robert Golger, to confirm he concurred with what was being stipulated. Karazin then said he found probable cause that an amount equal to or greater than $10 million would be awarded if the case went in the Nash family's favor. Newman afterward  told reporters it would probably be a minimum of three years before the case came to trial.

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