'I hope I get my day in court': Now chimp maul victim Charla Nash suing state for $150MILLION for 'knowing about rampaging animal and doing nothing'
- Charla Nash, 58, horrifically mauled by chimpanzee in 2009
- Had revolutionary full-face transplant in June 2011 and says she has feeling in various parts of her face
- Is suing state of Connecticut, seeking $150m in damages for not dealing with dangerous 200-lb chimp Travis
- Chimp escaped in 2003 and roamed around Stamford before being caught
Charla Nash, the woman who lost her eyesight, lips, nose, and hands in a vicious attack by a raging chimpanzee is now suing the state of Connecticut.
In the allegations, she claims the then-mayor of Stamford, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, knew the animal was dangerous.
In addition to the $50million lawsuit against Herold’s estate, Ms Nash also has a request before the state's claims commissioner for permission to pursue a $150million lawsuit against the state for allegedly failing to protect the public, including herself, from a dangerous animal.
Before and after: Pictured before the attack, left, and after she received a full-face transplant, right; Ms Nash is suing the state of Connecticut for $150million and claims the Stamford governor knew of the danger
In an interview with The Hartford Courant, Ms Nash said the chimpanzee got loose and roamed Stamford in 2003.
She said Malloy knew the chimp's owner, Sandra Herold, and allowed her to take him home and warned that he should be locked up.
She was attacked by the animal in February 2009.
She told the Courant: 'I know he was the mayor when Travis was running loose that time in 2003.
(Herold) knew him. And she said he allowed her to take Travis home and said (to) keep him locked up,' she said.
'I think it was said that if he got loose again, they were going to shoot him. That's what Sandra told me.'
Malloy's senior adviser, Roy Occhiogrosso, said last week that the governor may have met and spoken with Herold when she attended one or more of his periodic meetings with the public.
But he said it was 'never about the chimp' and not about the incident Ms Nash mentioned.
Ms Nash's lawyers say state environmental officials received reports and complaints about the danger and that the state was required by law to remove Travis, but did nothing.
She said the chimpanzee was 'a known danger' in a residential area.
Recovery: Six months in, Ms Nash showed off her face transplant surgery. Surgeons spent 20 hours re-building her features
Reconstruction: In the attack, her eyes, nose, and lips were mauled off
'With a dog, you've got to keep him on a leash,' she said. 'Animals have to have rabies shots. How come he was excluded?'
A spokesman for the state environmental agency would not comment because Ms Nash's case is before the state claims commission.
If her request to sue the state is denied by the Claims Commission, she can appeal to the legislature. Nash's lawyers have hired a lobbyist to represent her if necessary at the state Capitol.
The state has 'sovereign immunity' against most lawsuits unless such permission is granted.
Despite her legal woes, the face transplant recipient says she feels at home in her new skin.
'I have to depend on a lot of help. My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.'
-Charla Nash
The brave 58-year-old woman, who nearly died in the horrific mauling, told the Hartford Courant exclusively last week that she feels no different than she did before the attack.
‘I just feel like it’s my face,’ she said. ‘It’s just not working real good.’
Ms Nash, a single mother from Stamford, Connecticut, told the Courant that she’s regaining movements in her face and can express herself with various motions.
‘Every day, my muscles get better,’ she said.
Sandra Herold, who owned the 200-lb chimp Travis, died of an aneurism in 2010. Ms Nash said that if she could say anything to her former boss and friend, she would say she is ‘sorry that all this happened. And, nothing we can change now.’
On a rampage: Travis escaped in 2003 and roamed around Stamford, Connecticut before he was eventually re-captured
However, she added that Herold was ‘a trouble person’ that was more worried about her pet – who was shot and killed after the attack – than she was of her.
In past interviews, Ms Nash revealed that having a new face allowed her simple human pleasures – she has regained her sense of smell and can eat again.
Strong: 200-lb chimpanzee Travis attacked in 2009. Experts warned chimps can be up to six times as strong as a human
She is even regaining sensation in her forehead, cheeks, eyebrow, and nose.
But most of all, she’s learning how to smile. ‘It creases up here,’ Ms Nash told the Courant as she pointed at her mouth.
In the interview, Ms Nash also spoke of long years of rehabilitation, and the hope of regaining some semblance of independence.
‘I don’t know what the future’s doing (sic) to bring… so I don’t get my hopes up,’ Ms Nash said,
though she added that she wants to progress far enough that she can again ride horses and live in her own house.
She said she misses simple things – like being able to bargain hunt, bask in the sunshine, or even look at her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna.
‘I have to depend on a lot of help,’ she said. ‘My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.’
She also gets phantom pains in her hands, despite the fact that they were removed after the 2009 attack.
Transplants added in surgery later had to be removed because of dangerous complications.
In an interview with ABC 7 last month, Ms Nash – who likes being called Charlie – said she doesn’t want anybody’s pity.
‘I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,’ she said. ‘I want to be like everyone else.’
She has been told by doctors that she needs to work on bulking up, as she is still quite thin for her 5ft 10in frame.
Courageous: The survivor first revealed her mauled face on the Oprah Winfrey show; before the surgery, she kept a veil over her face
Haunting image: Ms Nash is seen posing with the chimp a year before the attack
Ms Nash, who was blinded in the 2009 attack, was fitted with brown glass eyes and hopes to get a double hand transplant after the first one failed.
She received a revolutionary full-face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston nearly two years after the attack.
The operation – performed by a team of more than 30 surgeons and nurses – and subsequent recovery were widely covered.
Prior to the surgery, she hid her face under a veil, saying that she chose to wear it ‘so I don’t scare people.’
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