Judge Agrees to Freeze Assets of Connecticut Chimp’s Owner

A Connecticut judge has approved an agreement freezing $10 million in assets belonging to the owner of a chimpanzee that mauled a woman.

The family of Charla Nash is suing the chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, for $50 million.

Nash lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids in the Feb. 16 attack in Stamford. Doctors at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic say she is blind and faces two years of surgical procedures. Her medical bills last month were estimated at $700,000.

The agreement between Herold’s attorneys and Nash’s lawyers includes six Stamford properties owned by Herold, including her house and a tow truck business. It also includes her interest in her late husband’s estate.

Herold’s attorneys have said there was no way to predict the 200-pound (90-kilogram) chimp named Travis would attack Nash.