NEW HAVEN - A woman whose 200-pound chimpanzee mauled and disfigured her best friend is vulnerable to a costly civil lawsuit, while the state also could face legal trouble for failing to take action, legal experts said yesterday.
Travis, a 14-year-old chimp, was shot and killed by police Monday after he attacked 55-year-old Charla Nash of Stamford. Nash suffered massive injuries to her face and hands, requiring more than seven hours of surgery by four teams of doctors to stabilize her.
She was transferred in critical condition Thursday to the Cleveland Clinic, which two months ago performed the nation's first successful face transplant.
Hospital officials say it's unknown whether Nash will be a candidate for a face transplant. An evaluation of the extent of her injuries could take as much as a week, officials said yesterday.
Police say Travis attacked Nash when she arrived at owner Sandra Herold's house to help lure the chimp back inside. Herold speculated that Travis was being protective of her and attacked Nash because she had a different hairstyle, was driving a different car, and held a stuffed toy in front of her face to get the chimp's attention.
"I think there's one helluva lawsuit against the owner," said lawyer William Palmieri, who handled an animal neglect case in Connecticut.
"The reasonableness of having a 200-pound wild animal is just nonexistent. It's not unforeseeable that such an animal could do what this animal has done."
Bill Monaco, a lawyer representing Nash's family, said yesterday it is too soon to comment on the possibility of a lawsuit.
"Basically she has made some progress," Monaco said. "The fact that she was even able to be transferred is good news. I don't believe they would have transferred her there if she was fighting for her life."
A lawsuit is "virtually certain" if Herold has assets, said Fordham law professor Jim Cohen. He predicted a lawsuit would be successful against Herold, who lives in wealthy North Stamford and owns a tow truck business.
"She was on notice that this chimpanzee was, over the course of time, getting crankier and crankier, getting less controllable and she didn't do anything about it," Cohen said.
Herold did not return a call yesterday seeking comment.
Monday's attack was not the first time Travis bit someone, although it was by far the most serious incident. Two people said this week that Travis bit their fingers in 1996 and 1998, once hard enough to draw blood.
Police say they have no record of any complaints about Travis, aside from a 2003 incident where the chimp escaped from a vehicle and led Stamford police on a two-hour downtown chase before he was caught.
Authorities have not said whether Herold will face criminal charges. Connecticut state law allowed her to own the chimp as a pet. Several state leaders are calling for tighter restrictions following Monday's attack.
Cohen said he does not believe Herold should face criminal charges, noting that authorities allowed her to keep the chimp. He said the state could face a lawsuit as well.
"It's a little hard for me to see how they could charge her in good faith after they allowed this to continue," Cohen said.
"It seems to me the state was complicit in permitting her to keep the chimp and not in any way following up on it."
A necropsy on Travis's body had been performed, but results won't be available for weeks.