Zoo Pays $900,000 Settlement over Tiger Attack
May 29, 2009
San Jose, California - San Jose brothers who were attacked by a tiger on Christmas day last year in San Francisco Zoo will receive $900,000 in settlement.
Attorney Mark Geragos, who represents Kulbir and Amirtpal "Paul" Dhaliwal in the lawsuit, said that his clients are pleased with the settlement and ready to move on with their lives.
In December 2008, the Dhaliwals and their friend Carlos Sousa Jr were inside the zoo when a Siberian tiger escaped from its enclosure and attacked them. Sousa died in the incident while the two brothers were seriously injured.
Geragos accused the zoo’s staffs of refusing to help the victims and did not give them a safe place to escape from the attack. With this incident, the Dhaliwals has sought punitive damages over the zoo’s negligence and recklessness.
The lawyer also cited that the exterior wall of the enclosure was four feet shorter than the standard height in designing a tiger’s cage, adding that similar attack also happened to a zoo caretaker who was mauled in front of visitors while feeding it.
Meanwhile, Geragos accused the City of San Francisco Police Department of “bullying” and “threatening” his clients with involuntary manslaughter lawsuit over the death of Sousa to deter them from seeking claims.
Earlier, the police department and zoo officials accused the two brothers of taunting the animal by throwing things to the enclosure, resulting to the attack which killed their friend. However, Geragos said such allegations are without basis and only serve to “smear” his clients’ reputation to put the blame on them and not to the zoo officials.
In February, zoo officials settled the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Sousa’s family who declined to provide details about the settlement.
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