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No Lifer
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SAN JOSE ? The two San Jose brothers whose friend was fatally mauled on Christmas Day 2007 by a tiger that escaped a closure at the San Francisco Zoo will receive $900,000 as part of a settlement in a civil lawsuit, according to a source.
Kulbir and Amirtpal "Paul" Dhaliwal originally filed a lawsuit in November that blamed city officials and the zoo for their injuries sustained during the attack and also sought damages for defamation in the aftermath of the incident. The brothers amended their complaint two weeks ago to seek additional claims, alleging that the city was attempting to bully the Dhaliwals into not seeking a civil lawsuit by threatening to issue an arrest warrant for manslaughter in the death of their friend, Carlos Sousa Jr., who was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger.
Los Angeles-based attorney Mark Geragos, who represented the Dhaliwals in their suit against the San Francisco Zoological Society, City and County of San Francisco and public relations guru Sam Singer, said the brothers are "pleased and happy to put" the case behind them.
In the court papers filed May 15, Geragos wrote that he received thousands of new documents of discovery from city, police and zoo officials on May 12 and 13 . After reviewing those new documents, Geragos determined that " it is now abundantly clear that the City of San Francisco Police Department's threat to file involuntary manslaughter charges" against the Dhaliwals in the death of their friend "was a ruse to dissuade them from pursuing an action."
Reached today, Geragos said the arrest warrant was never issued because "a very professional police officer refused to be cowed or bullied."
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about the allegations made in the lawsuit.
Geragos also said the new documents proved that many of the statements made by the zoo following the attack, including allegations that the Dhaliwals and Sousa taunted the Siberian Tiger named Tatiana and threw objects into her pen, didn't happen.
"In the short run, it was a great smear job," Geragos said. "In the long run, it cost the city well over a million to defend the lawsuit and monies it had to pay out."
In the amended complaint, the Dhaliwals sought punitive damages because of the "zoo's blatant and reckless disregard for the safety" of the brothers. Geragos wrote that zoo employees refused to allow the "profusely bleeding" and injured brothers to a place of safety when the tiger was loose. Geragos added that the "zoo employees' refusal to provide a safe haven within the locked doors of Terrace Café was tantamount to allowing the tiger free range to launch additional attacks against the defenseless victims."
The Dhaliwals also argued that the exterior wall of the tiger cage was four feet below the recommended height for tiger enclosure, that Tatiana had previously attacked a caretaker during a public feeding session and was shown to be an aggressor in several attacks on other tigers.
Geragos alleges that at one point during the police investigation the captain in charge "instructed his subordinates to issue warrants" for the Dhaliwals on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Sousa.
The attorney added that the recent discovery revealed that the police department sought the arrest warrant while "knowing affirmatively that they had no basis to do so" and that the department heads demanded the arrests even though they were informed that the investigation could not substantiate involuntary manslaughter.
/sniped
so where are all the people saying this should have been thrown out? the court records proved that they were trying to smear the boys reputation and get people to go against them.
they even tried to have the police department issue arrest warrents for suspesion of involentary manslaughter.
what a disturbign story.
glad they won. though not as much as i think they deserve but more then i expected.
SAN JOSE ? The two San Jose brothers whose friend was fatally mauled on Christmas Day 2007 by a tiger that escaped a closure at the San Francisco Zoo will receive $900,000 as part of a settlement in a civil lawsuit, according to a source.
Kulbir and Amirtpal "Paul" Dhaliwal originally filed a lawsuit in November that blamed city officials and the zoo for their injuries sustained during the attack and also sought damages for defamation in the aftermath of the incident. The brothers amended their complaint two weeks ago to seek additional claims, alleging that the city was attempting to bully the Dhaliwals into not seeking a civil lawsuit by threatening to issue an arrest warrant for manslaughter in the death of their friend, Carlos Sousa Jr., who was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger.
Los Angeles-based attorney Mark Geragos, who represented the Dhaliwals in their suit against the San Francisco Zoological Society, City and County of San Francisco and public relations guru Sam Singer, said the brothers are "pleased and happy to put" the case behind them.
In the court papers filed May 15, Geragos wrote that he received thousands of new documents of discovery from city, police and zoo officials on May 12 and 13 . After reviewing those new documents, Geragos determined that " it is now abundantly clear that the City of San Francisco Police Department's threat to file involuntary manslaughter charges" against the Dhaliwals in the death of their friend "was a ruse to dissuade them from pursuing an action."
Reached today, Geragos said the arrest warrant was never issued because "a very professional police officer refused to be cowed or bullied."
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about the allegations made in the lawsuit.
Geragos also said the new documents proved that many of the statements made by the zoo following the attack, including allegations that the Dhaliwals and Sousa taunted the Siberian Tiger named Tatiana and threw objects into her pen, didn't happen.
"In the short run, it was a great smear job," Geragos said. "In the long run, it cost the city well over a million to defend the lawsuit and monies it had to pay out."
In the amended complaint, the Dhaliwals sought punitive damages because of the "zoo's blatant and reckless disregard for the safety" of the brothers. Geragos wrote that zoo employees refused to allow the "profusely bleeding" and injured brothers to a place of safety when the tiger was loose. Geragos added that the "zoo employees' refusal to provide a safe haven within the locked doors of Terrace Café was tantamount to allowing the tiger free range to launch additional attacks against the defenseless victims."
The Dhaliwals also argued that the exterior wall of the tiger cage was four feet below the recommended height for tiger enclosure, that Tatiana had previously attacked a caretaker during a public feeding session and was shown to be an aggressor in several attacks on other tigers.
Geragos alleges that at one point during the police investigation the captain in charge "instructed his subordinates to issue warrants" for the Dhaliwals on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Sousa.
The attorney added that the recent discovery revealed that the police department sought the arrest warrant while "knowing affirmatively that they had no basis to do so" and that the department heads demanded the arrests even though they were informed that the investigation could not substantiate involuntary manslaughter.
/sniped
so where are all the people saying this should have been thrown out? the court records proved that they were trying to smear the boys reputation and get people to go against them.
they even tried to have the police department issue arrest warrents for suspesion of involentary manslaughter.
what a disturbign story.
glad they won. though not as much as i think they deserve but more then i expected.
